Optimal Disturbances of Stably Stratified Turbulent Couette Flow

Abstract

Direct numerical simulation data of a stably stratified turbulent Couette flow contains two types of organized structures: the rolls that arise at neutral and close to neutral stratification and the layered structures that manifest themselves as the static stability increases. It is shown that both types of structures have spatial scales and forms that coincide with the scales and forms of the corresponding optimal disturbances of the simplified linear model of the Couette flow with the same Richardson numbers.