Effects of Schmidt number on the short-wavelength instabilities in stratified vortices

Abstract

We present a local stability analysis to investigate the effects of differential diffusion between momentum and density (quantified by the Schmidt number $Sc$) on the three-dimensional, short-wavelength instabilities in planar vortices with a uniform stable stratification along the vorticity axis. Assuming small diffusion in both momentum and density, but arbitrary values for $Sc$, we present a detailed analytical/numerical analysis for three different classes of base flows: (i) an axisymmetric vortex, (ii) an elliptical vortex and (iii) the flow in the neighbourhood of a hyperbolic stagnation point. While a centrifugally stable axisymmetric vortex remains stable for any $Sc$, it is shown that $Sc$ can have significant effects in a centrifugally unstable axisymmetric vortex: the range of unstable perturbations increases when $Sc$ is taken away from unity, with the extent of increase being larger for $Sc\ll 1$ than for $Sc\gg 1$. Additionally, for $Sc>1$, we report the possibility of oscillatory instability. In an elliptical vortex with a stable stratification, $Sc\neq 1$ is shown to non-trivially influence the three different inviscid instabilities (subharmonic, fundamental and superharmonic) that have been previously reported, and also introduce a new branch of oscillatory instability that is not present at $Sc=1$. The unstable parameter space for the subharmonic (instability IA) and fundamental (instability IB) inviscid instabilities are shown to be significantly increased for $Sc<1$ and $Sc>1$, respectively. Importantly, for sufficiently small and large $Sc$, respectively, the maximum growth rate for instabilities IA and IB occurs away from the inviscid limit. The new oscillatory instability (instability III) is shown to occur only for sufficiently small $Sc<1$, the signature of which is nevertheless present with zero growth rate in the inviscid limit. The Schmidt number is then shown to play no role in the evolution of transverse perturbations on the flow around a hyperbolic stagnation point with a stable stratification. We conclude by discussing the physical length scales associated with the $Sc\neq 1$ instabilities, and their potential relevance in various realistic settings.