Benjamin Favier

Many geophysical and astrophysical fluids, including planetary atmospheres, stars and oceans, consist of turbulent flows adjacent to stably-stratified fluid layers. Because waves can drive large-scale flows, increase scalar mixing and are sometimes easier to observe than turbulent motions, two important questions for these fluids are: how much energy goes from the turbulence into internal waves in the stable layer? What kind of waves (i.e. what wavenumbers and frequencies) are generated most efficiently?

In this talk we will answer these two questions by presenting a theoretical prediction for the energy flux spectrum of waves generated by turbulent convection and comparing it with results from 3D direct numerical simulations (DNS) of self-organised convective--stably-stratified fluids. We will show that DNS and theory agree well for the range of strong turbulence-strong stratification parameters tested, giving some confidence in the analytical expression for the energy flux spectrum of the waves, which is based on a theory that assumes waves are generated by Reynolds stresses due to eddies in the turbulent region. We hope that our results will help quantify wave generation in geophysical and astrophysical fluids.