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A flat plate in a rotating, stratified flow

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Summary

The boundary layer over a flat plate of semi-infinite extent in a stratified and rotating flow grows forward from the trailing edge, and is characterized by an intrinsic length scaleL, which represents the distance from the trailing edge at which vortex stretching becomes just as important in the boundary layer as baroclinic vorticity production. Near the trailing edge, the layer is essentially the layer in a purely stratified flow; far upstream (manyL), it is an Ekman layer. The boundary layer entrains no fluid, but induces at its edge a transverse velocity component which drives an higher-order streamwise outer flow. If the flow is bounded above and below by horizontal planes, the Wiener-Hopf solution for this outer flow indicates that the disturbance decays rapidly downstream, but the transverse velocity component is non-zero far upstream.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, The Ohio State University, 43210, Columbus, Ohio, USA

    M. R. Foster

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  1. M. R. Foster
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Foster, M.R. A flat plate in a rotating, stratified flow. J Eng Math 14, 117–132 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00037622

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00037622

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