Structured input-output analysis of stably stratified plane Couette flow

Abstract

We employ a recently introduced structured input-output analysis (SIOA) approach to analyze streamwise and spanwise wavelengths of flow structures in stably stratified plane Couette flow. In the low-Reynolds number ($Re$) low-bulk Richardson number ($Ri_b$) spatially intermittent regime, we demonstrate that SIOA predicts high amplification associated with wavelengths corresponding to the characteristic oblique turbulent bands in this regime. SIOA also identifies quasi-horizontal flow structures resembling the turbulent-laminar layers commonly observed in the high-$Re$ high-$Ri_b$ intermittent regime. An SIOA across a range of $Ri_b$ and $Re$ values suggests that the classical Miles-Howard stability criterion ($Ri_b\leq 1/4$) is associated with a change in the most amplified flow structures when Prandtl number is close to one ($Pr\approx 1$). However, for $Pr\ll 1$, the most amplified flow structures are determined by the product $PrRi_b$. For $Pr\gg 1$, SIOA identifies another quasi-horizontal flow structure that we show is principally associated with density perturbations. We further demonstrate the dominance of this density-associated flow structure in the high $Pr$ limit by constructing analytical scaling arguments for the amplification in terms of $Re$ and $Pr$ under the assumptions of unstratified flow (with $Ri_b=0$) and streamwise invariance.