The Boussinesq approximation in rapidly rotating flows

Abstract

In commonly used formulations of the Boussinesq approximation centrifugal buoyancy effects related to differential rotation, as well as strong vortices in the flow, are neglected. However, these may play an important role in rapidly rotating flows, such as in astrophysical and geophysical applications, and also in turbulent convection. We here provide a straightforward approach resulting in a Boussinesq-type approximation that consistently accounts for centrifugal effects. Its application to the accretion-disk problem is discussed. We numerically compare the new approach to the typical one in fluid flows confined between two differentially heated and rotating cylinders. The results justify the need of using the proposed approximation in rapidly rotating flows.

Accepted in Journal of Fluid Mechanics

References in corpus (5)

• Stability and angular-momentum transport of fluid flows between corotating cylinders
• The Boussinesq approximation in rapidly rotating flows
• On the viability of the shearing box approximation for numerical studies of MHD turbulence in accretion disks
• Transient growth in linearly stable Taylor-Couette flows
• DNS of bifurcations in an air-filled rotating baroclinic annulus

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• Perturbation analysis of baroclinic torque in low-Mach-number flows
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