Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2010 / iii / Paper 65 / 4 / b

To connect the prescribed interfacial drag coefficient to the energy supply, state the lumped interfacial power model for entrainment explicitly:It estimates the power transmitted by lid-driven flow to the mixing interface. Constant geometric and transfer factors are included in $c_D$ or $C_W$. It is the local stress-power interpretation required for the depth laws in this question, not an identity equating arbitrary lid shaft power to interfacial power. With the potential energy of two-layer entrainment from (a),In model S, $u_I=\Omega R$ and $B$ are constant, soThus the depth increases at a constant rate proportional to the inverse bulk Richardson number, with $h=h_0+2C_W{c}_D\Omega Rt/{\mathrm{Ri}}_B$, until the layer reaches $H$. Here the prescribed $u_I$ must be read as a characteristic speed. Literal pure solid-body rotation has zero radial velocity, so the PDF's parenthetical description of $u_I$ as radial cannot simultaneously be a strict component statement and the assumption $u_I=\Omega R$.

If the phrase about lid work is taken literally as shaft power $P_{\mathrm{lid}}=\Omega {\mathcal{T}}_{\mathrm{lid}}$, the interfacial stress alone does not specify the lid torque or its energy transfer to the interface. The preceding closure is therefore a visible model assumption, not a hidden consequence of solid-body rotation.