Turbulent breaking of overturning gravity waves below a critical level

Abstract

The interaction of an internal gravity wave with its evolving critical layer and the subsequent generation of turbulence by overturning waves are studied by three-dimensional numerical simulations. The simulation describes the flow of a stably stratified Boussinesq fluid between a bottom wavy surface and a top flat surface, both without friction and adiabatic. The amplitude of the surface wave amounts to about 0.03 of the layer depth. The horizontal flow velocity is negative near the lower surface, positive near the top surface with uniform shear and zero mean value. The bulk Richardson number is one. The flow over the wavy surface induces a standing gravity wave causing a critical layer at mid altitude. After a successful comparison of a two-dimensional version of the model with experimental observations (Thorpe [21]), results obtained with two different models of viscosity are discussed: a direct numerical simulation (DNS) with constant viscosity and a large-eddy simulation (LES) where the subgrid scales are modelled by a stability-dependent first-order closure. Both simulations are similar in the build-up of a primary overturning roll and show the expected early stage of the interaction between wave and critical level. Afterwards, the flows become nonlinear and evolve differently in both cases: the flow structure in the DNS consists of coherent smaller-scale secondary rolls with increasing vertical depth. On the other hand, in the LES the convectively unstable primary roll collapses into three-dimensional turbulence. The results show that convectively overturning regions are always formed but the details of breaking and the resulting structure of the mixed layer depend on the effective Reynolds number of the flow. With sufficient viscous damping, three-dimensional turbulent convective instabilities are more easily suppressed than two-dimensional laminar overturning.