Principal Investigator John Lienhard
Project Website http://lienhard.scripts.mit.edu/research/?page_id=26
Stably stratified turbulent flows are common in the ocean and the atmosphere. Buoyancy forces in these flows tend to damp the vertical components of turbulence, altering the decay of turbulence. These studies encompassed experimental measurements of turbulence in airflow which had varying levels of thermal stratification. In addition to the fundamental study of turbulence decay in stratified flow, a thermally stratified wind tunnel was designed, and hot and cold wire instrumentation was developed for use in highly non-isothermal turbulence.