Dr. Neil Balmforth Stratified shear flow: Another artifice for studying stratified shear instability is the "defect approximation" wherein sharp changes in vorticity and density are embedded within a linearly unstratified shear. The Kelvin-Helmholtz, Holmboe and Taylor-Caulfield instabilities are all captured within the defect formulation; sample movies are given below. My collaborators in this work include
Jeff Carpenter, Colm Caulfield, Tom Eaves, Greg Lawrence and Yuan-Nan Young. |
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Click to enlarge or play |
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Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in a stratified defect |
Holmboe instability in a stratified defect |
Taylor-Caulfield instability in a stratified defect |
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Holmboe waves in a stratified defect |
Catastrophic secondary instability of a TC billow |
Department of Mathematics / Fluid Labs / Neil Balmforth / Research Interests