Eyal Heifetz

Relating optimal growth to counterpropagating Rossby waves in shear instability

The optimal dynamics of conservative disturbances to plane parallel shear flows is interpreted in terms of the propagation and mutual interaction of components called counterpropagating Rossby waves (CRWs). Pairs of CRWs were originally used by Bretherton to provide a mechanistic explanation for unstable normal modes in the barotropic Rayleigh model and baroclinic two-layer model. One CRW has large amplitude in regions of positive mean cross-stream potential vorticity (PV) gradient, while the second CRW has large amplitude in regions of negative PV gradient. Each CRW propagates to the left of the mean PV gradient vector, parallel to the mean flow. If the mean flow is more positive where the PV gradient is positive, the intrinsic phase speeds of the two CRWs will be similar. The CRWs interact because the PV anomalies of one CRW induce cross-stream velocity at the location of the other CRW, thus advecting the mean PV. Although a single Rossby wave is neutral, their interaction can result in phase locking an...

Instability in Stratified Shear Flow: Review of a Physical Interpretation Based on Interacting Waves

Instability in homogeneous and density stratified shear flows may be interpreted in terms of the interaction of two (or more) otherwise free waves in the velocity and density profiles. These waves exist on gradients of vorticity and density, and instability results when two fundamental conditions are satisfied: (I) the phase speeds of the waves are stationary with respect to each other (“phase-locking“), and (II) the relative phase of the waves is such that a mutual growth occurs. The advantage of the wave interaction approach is that it provides a physical interpretation to shear flow instability. This paper is largely intended to purvey the basics of this physical interpretation to the reader, while both reviewing and consolidating previous work on the topic. The interpretation is shown to provide a framework for understanding many classical and nonintuitive results from the stability of stratified shear flows, such as the Rayleigh and Fjortoft theorems, and the destabilizing effect of an otherwise stable density stratification. Finally, we describe an application of the theory to a geophysical-scale flow in the Fraser River estuary. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4007909]

Quantitative analysis of seismogenic shear-induced turbulence in lake sediments

Spectacular deformations observed in lake sediments in an earthquake prone region (Lisan Formation, pre–Dead Sea lake) appear in phases of laminar, moderate folds, billow-like asymmetric folds, coherent vortices, and turbulent chaotic structures. Power spectral analysis of the deformation indicates that the geometry robustly obeys a power-law of –1.89, similar to the measured value of Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) turbulence in other environments. Numerical simulations are performed using properties of the layer materials based on measurements of the modern Dead Sea sediments, which are a reasonable analogue of Lake Lisan. The simulations show that for a given induced shear, the smaller the thickness of the layers, the greater is the turbulent deformation. This is due to the fact that although the effective viscosity increases (the Reynolds number decreases) the bulk Richardson number becomes smaller with decrease in the layer thickness. The latter represents the ratio between the gravitational potential energy of the stably stratified sediments and the shear energy generated by the earthquake. Therefore, for thin layers, the shear energy density is larger and the KH instability mechanism becomes more efficient. The peak ground acceleration (PGA) is related to the seismogenic shear established during the earthquake. Hence, a link is made between the observed thickness and geometry of a deformed layer with its causative earthquake9s PGA.

A Buoyancy–Vorticity Wave Interaction Approach to Stratified Shear Flow

Motivated by the success of potential vorticity (PV) thinking for Rossby waves and related shear flow phenomena, this work develops a buoyancy–vorticity formulation of gravity waves in stratified shear flow, for which the nonlocality enters in the same way as it does for barotropic/baroclinic shear flows. This formulation provides a time integration scheme that is analogous to the time integration of the quasigeostrophic equations with two, rather than one, prognostic equations, and a diagnostic equation for streamfunction through a vorticity inversion. The invertibility of vorticity allows the development of a gravity wave kernel view, which provides a mechanistic rationalization of many aspects of the linear dynamics of stratified shear flow. The resulting kernel formulation is similar to the Rossby-based one obtained for barotropic and baroclinic instability; however, since there are two independent variables—vorticity and buoyancy—there are also two independent kernels at each level. Though having two kernels complicates the picture, the kernels are constructed so that they do not interact with each other at a given level.

Vorticity inversion and action-at-a-distance instability in stably stratified shear flow

The somewhat counter-intuitive effect of how stratification destabilizes shear flows and the rationalization of the Miles–Howard stability criterion are re-examined in what we believe to be the simplest example of action-at-a-distance interaction between ‘buoyancy–vorticity gravity wave kernels’. The set-up consists of an infinite uniform shear Couette flow in which the Rayleigh–Fjortoft necessary conditions for shear flow instability are not satisfied. When two stably stratified density jumps are added, the flow may however become unstable. At each density jump the perturbation can be decomposed into two coherent gravity waves propagating horizontally in opposite directions. We show, in detail, how the instability results from a phase-locking action-at-a-distance interaction between the four waves (two at each jump) but can as well be reasonably approximated by the interaction between only the two counter-propagating waves (one at each jump). From this perspective the nature of the instability mechanism is similar to that of the barotropic and baroclinic ones. Next we add a small ambient stratification to examine how the critical-level dynamics alters our conclusions. We find that a strong vorticity anomaly is generated at the critical level because of the persistent vertical velocity induction by the interfacial waves at the jumps. This critical-level anomaly acts in turn at a distance to dampen the interfacial waves. When the ambient stratification is increased so that the Richardson number exceeds the value of a quarter, this destructive interaction overwhelms the constructive interaction between the interfacial waves, and consequently the flow becomes stable. This effect is manifested when considering the different action-at-a-distance contributions to the energy flux divergence at the critical level. The interfacial-wave interaction is found to contribute towards divergence, that is, towards instability, whereas the critical-level–interfacial-wave interaction contributes towards an energy flux convergence, that is, towards stability.

Holmboe modes revisited

A scaling analysis is presented better identifying the conditions in which the Boussinesq approximation may be used to study shear disturbances like that of Holmboe modes. The classic Holmboe normal mode instability is then reanalyzed by including baroclinic effects whose introduction alters the onset of Holmboe’s traveling-wave instability depending on the direction of the propagating modes. Since the introduction of baroclinicity is tantamount to relaxing the Boussinesq assumption, it means that in the presence of shear there is now a vertical variation of the horizontal momentum flux that alters the phase speed and structure of the classic Holmboe modes; the physical source of their broken right-left propagatory symmetry is associated with this physical effect. Furthermore, the regions of parameter space in which Holmboe’s classic analysis predicts there to be nonpropagating double instabilities now supports propagating Holmboe modes when baroclinic effects are included. We also find that a globally co...

Interacting vorticity waves as an instability mechanism for magnetohydrodynamic shear instabilities

The interacting vorticity wave formalism for shear flow instabilities is extended here to the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) setting, to provide a mechanistic description for the stabilising and destabilising of shear instabilities by the presence of a background magnetic field. The interpretation relies on local vorticity anomalies inducing a non-local velocity field, resulting in action-at-a-distance. It is shown here that the waves supported by the system are able to propagate vorticity via the Lorentz force, and waves may interact; existence of instability then rests upon whether the choice of basic state allows for phase-locking and constructive interference of the vorticity waves via mutual interaction. To substantiate this claim, we solve the instability problem of two representative basic states, one where a background magnetic field stabilises an unstable flow and the other where the field destabilises a stable flow, and perform relevant analyses to show how this mechanism operates in MHD.

Toward a thermo-hydrodynamic like description of Schrodinger equation via the Madelung formulation and Fisher information

We revisit the analogy suggested by Madelung between a non-relativistic time-dependent quantum particle, to a fluid system which is pseudo-barotropic, irrotational and inviscid. We first discuss the hydrodynamical properties of the Madelung description in general, and extract a pressure like term from the Bohm potential. We show that the existence of a pressure gradient force in the fluid description, does not violate Ehrenfest’s theorem since its expectation value is zero. We also point out that incompressibility of the fluid implies conservation of density along a fluid parcel trajectory and in 1D this immediately results in the non-spreading property of wave packets, as the sum of Bohm potential and an exterior potential must be either constant or linear in space. Next we relate to the hydrodynamic description a thermodynamic counterpart, taking the classical behavior of an adiabatic barotopric flow as a reference. We show that while the Bohm potential is not a positive definite quantity, as is expected from internal energy, its expectation value is proportional to the Fisher information whose integrand is positive definite. Moreover, this integrand is exactly equal to half of the square of the imaginary part of the momentum, as the integrand of the kinetic energy is equal to half of the square of the real part of the momentum. This suggests a relation between the Fisher information and the thermodynamic like internal energy of the Madelung fluid. Furthermore, it provides a physical linkage between the inverse of the Fisher information and the measure of disorder in quantum systems—in spontaneous adiabatic gas expansion the amount of disorder increases while the internal energy decreases.

On the role of vortex stretching in energy optimal growth of three-dimensional perturbations on plane parallel shear flows

The three dimensional optimal energy growth mechanism, in plane parallel shear flows, is reexamined in terms of the role of vortex stretching and the interplay between the span-wise vorticity and the planar divergent components. For high Reynolds numbers the structure of the optimal perturbations in Couette, Poiseuille, and mixing layer shear profiles is robust and resembles localized plane-waves in regions where the background shear is large. The waves are tilted with the shear when the span-wise vorticity and the planar divergence fields are in (out of) phase when the background shear is positive (negative). A minimal model is derived to explain how this configuration enables simultaneous growth of the two fields, and how this mutual amplification reflects on the optimal energy growth. This perspective provides an understanding of the three dimensional growth solely from the two dimensional dynamics on the shear plane.

Stratified shear flow instabilities in the non-Boussinesq regime

Effects of the baroclinic torque on wave propagation normally neglected under the Boussinesq approximation is investigated here, with a special focus on the associated consequences for the mechanistic interpretation of shear instability arising from the interaction between a pair of vorticity-propagating waves. To illustrate and elucidate the physical effects that modify wave propagation, we consider three examples of increasing complexity: wave propagation supported by a uniform background flow; wave propagation supported on a piecewise-linear basic state possessing one jump; and an instability problem of a piecewise-linear basic state possessing two jumps, which supports the possibility of shear instability. We find that the non-Boussinesq effects introduces a preference for the direction of wave propagation that depends on the sign of the shear in the region where waves are supported. This in turn affects phase-locking of waves that is crucial for the mechanistic interpretation for shear instability, and is seen here to have an inherent tendency for stabilisation.