We report on high-resolution, three-dimensional, high Rayleigh number, and low density ratio numerical simulations of fingering convection. We observe a previously unreported phenomenon of self-organization of fingers that cluster together to form larger-scale coherent structures. The flow ultimately forms density staircases, alternating well-mixed regions with fingering convective zones. We give evidence that the mechanical mixing induced by the clusters forms the staircases with a mechanism analogous to staircase formation in a stably stratified, nonconvective, stirred fluid.
Clustering of Salt Fingers in Double-Diffusive Convection Leads to Staircaselike Stratification / Paparella, Francesco; von Hardenberg, Jost. - In: PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS. - ISSN 0031-9007. - 109:1(2012).
Titolo: | Clustering of Salt Fingers in Double-Diffusive Convection Leads to Staircaselike Stratification |
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Data di pubblicazione: | 2012 |
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Digital Object Identifier (DOI): | http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.014502 |
Appare nelle tipologie: | 1.1 Articolo in rivista |
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http://hdl.handle.net/11583/2814872