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Title: TURBULENT TRANSPORT IN A STRONGLY STRATIFIED FORCED SHEAR LAYER WITH THERMAL DIFFUSION

Abstract

This work presents numerical results on the transport of heat and chemical species by shear-induced turbulence in strongly stratified, thermally diffusive environments. The shear instabilities driven in this regime are sometimes called “secular” shear instabilities, and can take place when the Richardson number of the flow is large, provided the Péclet number is small. We have identified a set of simple criteria to determine whether these instabilities can take place or not. Generally speaking, we find that they may be relevant whenever the thermal diffusivity of the fluid is very large (typically larger than 10{sup 14} cm{sup 2} s{sup −1}), which is the case in the outer layers of high-mass stars (M ≥ 10 M{sub ⊙}), for instance. Using a simple model setup in which the shear is forced by a spatially sinusoidal, constant-amplitude body-force, we have identified several regimes ranging from effectively unstratified to very strongly stratified, each with its own set of dynamical properties. Unless the system is in one of the two extreme regimes (effectively unstratified or completely stable), however, we find that (1) only about 10% of the input power is used toward heat transport, while the remaining 90% is viscously dissipated; (2) that the effective compositional mixingmore » coefficient is well-approximated by the model of Zahn, with D ≃ 0.02κ{sub T}/J where κ{sub T} is the thermal diffusivity and J is the Richardson number. These results need to be confirmed, however, with simulations in different model setups and at higher effective Reynolds number.« less

Authors:
 [1]
  1. Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Baskin School of Engineering, University of California at Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz CA 95064 (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22518498
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 821; Journal Issue: 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION; HEAT; HEAT TRANSFER; HYDRODYNAMICS; LAYERS; MASS; REYNOLDS NUMBER; RICHARDSON NUMBER; SHEAR; STARS; THERMAL DIFFUSION; THERMAL DIFFUSIVITY; TURBULENCE

Citation Formats

Garaud, Pascale. TURBULENT TRANSPORT IN A STRONGLY STRATIFIED FORCED SHEAR LAYER WITH THERMAL DIFFUSION. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.3847/0004-637X/821/1/49.
Garaud, Pascale. TURBULENT TRANSPORT IN A STRONGLY STRATIFIED FORCED SHEAR LAYER WITH THERMAL DIFFUSION. United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/821/1/49
Garaud, Pascale. 2016. "TURBULENT TRANSPORT IN A STRONGLY STRATIFIED FORCED SHEAR LAYER WITH THERMAL DIFFUSION". United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/821/1/49.
@article{osti_22518498,
title = {TURBULENT TRANSPORT IN A STRONGLY STRATIFIED FORCED SHEAR LAYER WITH THERMAL DIFFUSION},
author = {Garaud, Pascale},
abstractNote = {This work presents numerical results on the transport of heat and chemical species by shear-induced turbulence in strongly stratified, thermally diffusive environments. The shear instabilities driven in this regime are sometimes called “secular” shear instabilities, and can take place when the Richardson number of the flow is large, provided the Péclet number is small. We have identified a set of simple criteria to determine whether these instabilities can take place or not. Generally speaking, we find that they may be relevant whenever the thermal diffusivity of the fluid is very large (typically larger than 10{sup 14} cm{sup 2} s{sup −1}), which is the case in the outer layers of high-mass stars (M ≥ 10 M{sub ⊙}), for instance. Using a simple model setup in which the shear is forced by a spatially sinusoidal, constant-amplitude body-force, we have identified several regimes ranging from effectively unstratified to very strongly stratified, each with its own set of dynamical properties. Unless the system is in one of the two extreme regimes (effectively unstratified or completely stable), however, we find that (1) only about 10% of the input power is used toward heat transport, while the remaining 90% is viscously dissipated; (2) that the effective compositional mixing coefficient is well-approximated by the model of Zahn, with D ≃ 0.02κ{sub T}/J where κ{sub T} is the thermal diffusivity and J is the Richardson number. These results need to be confirmed, however, with simulations in different model setups and at higher effective Reynolds number.},
doi = {10.3847/0004-637X/821/1/49},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22518498}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal},
issn = {0004-637X},
number = 1,
volume = 821,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun Apr 10 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Sun Apr 10 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}