Modeling and Computations of Shallow-Water Coastal Flows

Internal layer entrainment and wave motion in stratified waters

Roberto Camassa

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

As highlighted by the recent events in the Gulf of Mexico, the interplay between density distribution and motion in a stratified fluid, whether induced by moving structures or by shear flows with different fluids, can be responsible for physical effects that have important consequences for the environment. This talk will focus on some examples of stratified fluid dynamics relevant for these phenomena, from entrainment and mixing due to moving objects to internal wave motion of large amplitudes, and present first principle mathematical models which can offer some quantitative understanding of them.