1,024 research outputs found
Understanding and modeling turbulent fluxes and entrainment in a gravity current
International audienceWe present an experimental study of the mixing processes in a gravity current flowing on an inclined plane. The turbulent transport of momentum and density can be described in a very direct and compact form by a Prandtl mixing length model: the turbulent vertical fluxes of momentum and density are found to scale quadratically with the vertical mean gradients of velocity and density. The scaling coefficient, the square of the mixing length, is approximately constant over the mixing zone of the stratified shear layer. We show how, in different flow configurations, this length can be related to the shear length of the flow (Δ/â z u^3)^1/2. We also study the fluctuations of the momentum and density turbulent fluxes, showing how they relate to mixing and to the entrainment/detrainment balance. We suggest a quantitative measure of local entrainment and detrainment derived from observed conditional correlations of density flux and density or vertical velocity fluctuations
Nonlinear internal wave penetration via parametric subharmonic instability
6 pages, 5 figuresInternational audienceWe present the results of a laboratory experimental study of an internal wave field generated by harmonic, spatially-periodic boundary forcing from above of a density stratification comprising a strongly-stratified, thin upper layer sitting atop a weakly-stratified, deep lower layer. In linear regimes, the energy flux associated with relatively high frequency internal waves excited in the upper layer is prevented from entering the lower layer by virtue of evanescent decay of the wave field. In the experiments, however, we find that the development of parametric subharmonic instability (PSI) in the upper layer transfers energy from the forced primary wave into a pair of subharmonic daughter waves, each capable of penetrating the weakly-stratified lower layer. We find that around of the primary wave energy flux penetrates into the lower layer via this nonlinear wave-wave interaction for the regime we study
Magnetic field reversals in an experimental turbulent dynamo
We report the first experimental observation of reversals of a dynamo field
generated in a laboratory experiment based on a turbulent flow of liquid
sodium. The magnetic field randomly switches between two symmetric solutions B
and -B. We observe a hierarchy of time scales similar to the Earth's magnetic
field: the duration of the steady phases is widely distributed, but is always
much longer than the time needed to switch polarity. In addition to reversals
we report excursions. Both coincide with minima of the mechanical power driving
the flow. Small changes in the flow driving parameters also reveal a large
variety of dynamo regimes.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Magnetic transitions in Pr2NiO4 single crystal
The magnetic properties of a stoichiometric Pr2NiO4 single crystal have been examined by means of the temperature dependence of the complex ac susceptibility and the isothermal magnetization in fields up to 200 kOe at T=4.2 K. Three separate phases have been identified and their anisotropic character has been analyzed. A collinear antiferromagnetic phase appears first between TN = 325 K and Tc1 = 115 K, where the Pr ions are polarized by an internal magnetic field. At Tc1 a first modification of the magnetic structure occurs in parallel with a structural phase transition (Bmab to P42/ncm). This magnetic transition has a firstâorder character and involves both the outâofâplane and the inâplane spin components (magnetic modes gx and gxcyfz, respectively). A second magnetic transition having also a firstâorder character is also clearly identified at Tc2 = 90 K which corresponds to a spin reorientation process (gxcyfz to cxgyaz magnetic modes). It should be noted as well that the outâofâphase component of Ïac shows a peak around 30 K which reflects the coexistence of both magnetic configurations in a wide temperature interval. Finally, two fieldâinduced transitions have been observed at 4.2 K when the field is directed along the c axis. We propose that the highâfield anomaly arises from a metamagnetic transition of the weak ferromagnetic component, similarly to La2CuO4
Transport of magnetic field by a turbulent flow of liquid sodium
We study the effect of a turbulent flow of liquid sodium generated in the von
K\'arm\'an geometry, on the localized field of a magnet placed close to the
frontier of the flow. We observe that the field can be transported by the flow
on distances larger than its integral length scale. In the most turbulent
configurations, the mean value of the field advected at large distance
vanishes. However, the rms value of the fluctuations increases linearly with
the magnetic Reynolds number. The advected field is strongly intermittent.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure
Effect of Sr substitution on superconductivity in Hg2(Ba1-ySry)2YCu2O8-d (part2): bond valence sum approach of the hole distribution
The effects of Sr substitution on superconductivity, and more particulary the
changes induced in the hole doping mechanism, were investigated in
Hg2(Ba1-ySry)2YCu2O8-d by a "bond valence sum" analysis with Sr content from y
= 0.0 to y = 1.0. A comparison with CuBa2YCu2O7-d and Cu2Ba2YCu2O8 systems
suggests a possible explanation of the Tc enhancement from 0 K for y = 0.0 to
42 K for y = 1.0. The charge distribution among atoms of the unit cell was
determined from the refined structure, for y = 0.0 to 1.0. It shows a charge
transfer to the superconducting CuO2 plane via two doping channels pi(1) and
pi(2), i.e. through O2(apical)-Cu and Ba/Sr-O1 bonds respectively.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Physics:
Condensed Matte
Similarity of slow stripe fluctations between Sr-doped cuprates and oxygen-doped nickelates
Stripe fluctuations in La2NiO4.17 have been studied by 139La NMR using the
field and temperature dependence of the linewidth and relaxation rates. In the
formation process of the stripes the NMR line intensity is maximal below 230K,
starts to diminish around 140K, disappears around 50K and recovers at 4K. These
results are shown to be consistent with, but completely complementary to
neutron measurements, and to be generic for oxygen doped nickelates and
underdoped cuprates.Comment: 4 pages including 4 figure
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