Internal waves generated by a moving sphere and its wake in a stratified fluid

E. Hopfinger , J. -B. Flor , J. -M. Chomaz , P. Bonneton (1)

1 EPOC - Environnements et Paléoenvironnements OCéaniques

The internal gravity waves and the turbulent wake of a sphere moving through stratified fluid were studied by the fluorescent dye technique. The Reynolds number Re=U·2a/v was kept nearly constant at about 3 · 103 and the Froude number F;U/a N ranged from 0.5 to 12.5. It is observed that waves generated by the body are dominant only when F<4 and are replaced by waves generated by the large scale coherent structures of the wake when F>4.

Domains: Mechanics [physics]; Fluid mechanics [physics.class-ph]

E. Hopfinger, J. -B. Flor, J. -M. Chomaz, P. Bonneton. Internal waves generated by a moving sphere and its wake in a stratified fluid. Experiments in Fluids, 1991, 11 (4), pp.255-261. ⟨10.1007/BF00192753⟩. ⟨hal-02140429⟩