Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2002 / iii / Paper 52 / 6 / a / Solution

Use the Boussinesq approximation and a top-hat plume model. Let $v(z)<0$ be the uniform ambient return velocity outside the plume. Negligible source volume flux and an impermeable cylindrical wall require zero net transport through every horizontal section:The entrainment speed must be specified relative to that moving ambient. Taking it to be $\alpha (w-v)$ givesThe surrounding unmodified fluid has zero buoyancy relative to the initial fluid. Neglecting thermal or compositional loss therefore givesLet $B_s$ denote the conserved specific source buoyancy flux: $B_s=B_o/\pi$ if $B_o$ is the actual integrated source flux, or $B_s=B_o$ if the source strength has already been normalized by $\pi$.

To obtain the usual integral-model singularity one must also state a pressure closure. Here take the whole-section mean pressure to have only its reference ambient hydrostatic pressure, and neglect wall force and extra vertical turbulent-stress fluxes in the integral budget. Internal momentum transfers between plume and ambient cancel in that whole-section balance. The remaining upward force is the plume buoyancy, givingThe two momentum fluxes add, even though $v$ is negative: vertical momentum transported downward also contributes $v^2$ to the flux through an upward-oriented horizontal section. These three flux balances, with the algebraic return-velocity constraint, govern $b,w,g^{\prime }$ in the confined plume with compensating return flow.

The pressure-neglecting closure is an integral approximation, not a claim that the return fluid has zero acceleration. If a mean pressure departure $p_{\ast }(z)$ is retained, the whole-section momentum balance instead contains $-(R^2/{\rho }_0)p_{\ast }^{\prime }(z)$, along with any wall-force or stress contribution. The entrainment hypothesis alone does not specify that function. The singularity calculated below belongs to the stated pressure-neglecting model; it is not forced by continuity alone or asserted to be an infinite velocity in the real fluid.