The Motion of Non-Miscible Stably Stratified Fluids

Abstract

The most common stratified flows in nature are associated with mixing. On the other hand, flow situations exist where either no mixing takes place (oil/water) or where the actual mixing has no appreciable influence on the dynamics of the flow, as for instance the stationary salt water wedge (treated below). Therefore, we have an ample motivation to discuss the motion of non-miscible stratified fluids, in as much as it leaves us the possibility to get familiar with the special effects of stratified flows in a relatively simply manner. Generally speaking, the non-miscible stratified flows behave like ordinary open channel flows in a reduced acceleration of gravity field g’ = Δg, confer Appendix.