Kaiser Bryan Edward

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Kaiser
First Name
Bryan Edward
ORCID
0000-0002-4652-6935

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  • Article
    Low-Reynolds-number oscillating boundary layers on adiabatic slopes
    (Cambridge University Press, 2022-10-13) Kaiser, Bryan E. ; Pratt, Lawrence J. ; Callies, Jörn
    We investigate the instabilities and transition mechanisms of Boussinesq stratified boundary layers on sloping boundaries when subjected to oscillatory body forcing parallel to the slope. We examine idealized forms of boundary layers on hydraulically smooth abyssal slopes in tranquil mid- to low-latitude regions, where low-wavenumber internal tides gently heave isopycnals up and down adiabatic slopes in the absence of mean flows, high-wavenumber internal tides, shelf breaks, resonant tide–bathymetry interactions (critical slopes) and other phenomena associated with turbulence ‘hot spots’. In non-rotating low-Reynolds-number flow, increased stratification on the downslope phase has a relaminarizing effect, while on the upslope phase we find transition-to-turbulence pathways arise from shear production triggered by gravitational instabilities. When rotation is significant (low slope Burger numbers) we find that boundary layer turbulence is sustained throughout the oscillation period, resembling stratified Stokes–Ekman layer turbulence. Simulation results suggest that oscillating boundary layers on smooth slopes at low Reynolds number ($\textit {Re}\leqslant 840$), unity Prandtl number and slope Burger numbers greater than unity do not cause significant irreversible turbulent buoyancy flux (mixing), and that flat-bottom dissipation rate models derived from the tide amplitude are accurate within an order of magnitude.
  • Thesis
    Finescale abyssal turbulence: sources and modeling
    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2020-02) Kaiser, Bryan Edward
    A detailed understanding of the intensity and three-dimensional spatial distribution of diabatic abyssal turbulence is germane to understanding the abyssal branch of the global overturning circulation. This thesis addresses the issue through 1) an investigation of the dynamics of an abyssal boundary layer and through 2) the construction of a probabilistic finescale parameterization using mixture density networks (MDNs). A boundary layer, formed by the interaction of heaving isopycnals by the tide and viscous/adiabatic boundary conditions, is investigated through direct numerical simulations (DNS) and Floquet analysis. Turbulence is sustained throughout the tidal period in the DNS on extra-critical slopes characterized by small slope Burger numbers, leading to the formation of turbulent stratified Stokes-Ekman layers. Floquet analysis suggests that the boundary layers are unstable to disturbances to the vorticity component aligned with the across-isobath tidal velocity on extra-critical slopes. MDNs, trained on microstructure observations, are used to construct probabilistic finescale parameterization dependent on the finescale vertical kinetic energy (VKE), N2f2, , and both variables. The MDN model predictions are as accurate as conventional parameterizations, but also predict the underlying probability density function of the dissipation rate as a function of the dependent parameters.
  • Article
    Floquet stability analyses of stratified oscillating boundary layers on adiabatic slopes
    (Cambridge University Press, 2022-12-09) Kaiser, Bryan E. ; Pratt, Lawrence J.
    The presence of a no-slip, impermeable, adiabatic, sloped boundary in an otherwise quiescent, stably stratified, Boussinesq flow generates baroclinic vorticity within a diffusive boundary layer. Such conditions are typical of the oscillating boundary layers on adiabatic abyssal slopes, sloped lake bathymetry and sloped coastal bathymetry in the absence of high-wavenumber internal waves, mean flows, far-field turbulence on larger scales, and resonant tidal–bathymetric interaction. We investigate the linear stability of the oscillating flow within non-dimensional parameter space typical of the $M_2$ tide and hydraulically smooth, middle-latitude abyssal slopes through Floquet linear stability analysis. The flow dynamics depends on three non-dimensional variables: the Reynolds number for Stokes’ second problem, the Prandtl number, and a frequency ratio that accounts for the resonance conditions ($C$, criticality) of the buoyant restoring force and the tidal forcing. The Floquet analysis results suggest that oscillating laminar boundary layers on adiabatic abyssal slopes are increasingly unstable as Reynolds number, criticality parameter and/or spanwise disturbance wavenumber are increased. We also show that the two-dimensional Floquet linear instability necessarily generates three-dimensional baroclinic vorticity, which suggests that the evolution of the gravitational instabilities may be nonlinear as $t\rightarrow \infty$.