Observation of the Turbulent Burst near ASheared Air-Water Interface

The turbulent burst under a sheared air-water interface was experimentally investigated using hydrogen bubble visualization technique. The surface shear wasimposed by an airflow over the water flow which was kept free from surface waves. Resultsshow that the wind shear has the main influence on the bursting events. At relativelyhigh shear rates, the flow near the interface is dominated primarily by intermittent bursting events. The general features of bursting processes are described in some detail. Theobserved bursting events show qualitative similarities with those occurring in near-wallturbulence. However, a few distinctive phenomena were also observed, including the existence of vertical vortices and thickening process of the boundary layer, which appear tobe associated with the Characteristics of air-water interface.