Turbulence and mixing across gravitationally unstable interface by tank-overturn experiment

Turbulence and mixing across gravitationally unstable interface were studied in the laboratory by overturning a tank of two-layer fluids initially of stable stratification. As the dense fluid fell under gravity to mix with the lighter fluid from below, highly unsteady exchange of fluids across the unstable interface was produced by the buoyancy force. The exchange was captured in the experiment by a video camera using dye in the dense fluid as tracer. Absorption of light by the dye determined the excess mass at every pixel of the digitized images. The position of the excess-mass center and the speed of the center were computed from the excess-mass profiles as parameters to characterize the mixing across the unstable interface. With positive feedback by the buoyancy force, mixing across the interface rapidly intensified. It increased linearly from zero to a maximum in an acceleration regime and then asymptotically toward a terminal state, as the total buoyancy in the layer stayed constant. In the terminal state, the excess-mass center advanced at a terminal speed in proportion to the square root of the layer's total buoyancy.