Lars Erik Holmedal: Oscillatory boundary layers in the Ocean

Oscillating boundary layers in the ocean are of fundamental interest as they are important in phenomena such as mixing, sediment transport and drift mechanisms. These boundary layers occur on different time and length scales. The waves induce a thin layer near the surface, and, for intermediate and shallow water depths, an oscillatory bottom boundary layer. The gravity forces from the moon and the sun, in conjunction with the Earths rotation, induces tidal boundary layers. Oscillatory boundary layers often result from an interaction between the oscillatory motion and a current, for example induced by wind at the ocean surface. In general these boundary layers are turbulent in the ocean, and it will be shown how these boundary layers can be calculated using a relative simple two-equation turbulence model. Results from an ongoing work considering the entire water column for a tidal flow with wind at the surface will be given. Finally a few preliminary LES test results from channel flow, from our development of LES codes, will be presented, and a brief discussion of some problems which we expect to face when using these models on geophysical flows will be given.

Lars Erik Holmedal is researcher at Department of Marine Technology, NTNU