ATMOSPHERIC CONVECTION PRODUCED BY LOCAL HEATING OR COOLING OF A HORIZONTAL SURFACE,

Abstract

The paper is concerned with the study of steady laminar convection flows, which are produced by nonuniform asixymmetric heating or cooling of a horizontal surface in the presence of the Coriolis force. First order approximations are obtained by means of adjustable local boundary layer assumptions. Velocity, pressure, and temperature fields are computed for various Prandtl, Grashof, and Eckert numbers as well as for various Coriolis parameters. Since the radial inflow causes a cyclonic motion, and the radial outflow an anticyclonic motion, the local heating of a surface generates in the northern hemisphere a vortex which is counterclockwise in the lower part of the boundary layer and clockwise in the upper part. For a cooled surface the situation is reversed. Critical Grashof numbers and Coriolis parameters exist beyond which the flow field becomes unstable. The tendency toward instability is decreased by the Coriolis force. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 1965
Accession Number
AD0624774

Entities

People

  • Ernst W. Schwiderski
  • Hans J. Lugt

Organizations

  • Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boundaries
  • Boundary Layer
  • Convection
  • Flow
  • Flow Fields
  • Hemispheres
  • Instability
  • Layers
  • Motion
  • Nonuniform
  • Northern Hemisphere

Readers

  • Coastal Oceanography
  • Fluid Dynamics.