OBSERVATIONS OF THE SPACE-TIME STRUCTURE OF FLOW, VORTICITY AND STRESS OVER ORBITAL-SCALE RIPPLES

Abstract

The spatial and temporal structure of the flow, vorticity and stress over equilibrium orbital-scale sand ripples are investigated at turbulence-resolving scales with a wide-band coherent Doppler profiler (MFDop) in an oscillating tray apparatus. The oscillation period and horizontal excursion were 10 s and 0.5 m. Velocity profiles were acquired with 3 mm vertical resolution and at a 42 Hz sampling rate. Ripple wavelength and amplitude were 25 cm and 2.2 cm. The MFDop measurements are used to investigate the development of the lee vortex as a function of phase, and the co-evolution of turbulent kinetic energy, Reynolds stress and turbulence production. Shear stress is determined from the vertically-integrated vorticity equation and using the double-averaging approach. Friction factors obtained from the two methods are comparable and range from 0.1 to 0.2.