Coriolis and Rotational Effects on Stratified Turbulence (CREST)
Project Funder: EU HIT – EU High Performance Infrastructure in Turbulence programme
Project lead and collaborators: Jeff Peakall (Principal Investigator) (Leeds), Rob Dorrell (Leeds), Gareth Keevil (Leeds), Mathew Wells (Toronto), Steve Darby (Southampton), Anna Wahlin (Gothenburg), Joel Sommeria (LEGI – Grenoble), Samuel Viboud (LEGI – Grenoble)
Research Theme: Environmental Flows and Geophysical Flows
Summary of project
Dense buoyancy driven flows in channels are the main transport pathway between shallow slope regions and the deep sea. In higher latitudes these stratified flows are known to be strongly affected by Coriolis forces, however, the influence of these rotational forces on turbulent energy production and dissipation, shear stress distribution, and entrainment is largely unknown. A series of experiments will be carried out at the Coriolis platform to investigate the influence of Coriolis forces on turbulence in straight and sinuous submarine channels with non-erodible (fixed) beds. Work will focus on the turbulence structure of the bottom boundary layer, the presence and nature of Ekman boundary layers, mixing and entrainment at the gravity current ambient redistribution of turbulence within the flow as a result of three dimensional bend flow. The experiments are undertaken in the world’s largest rotating table in Grenoble.
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