Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2015 / iii / Paper 74 / 4 / b / Solution

The Batchelor entrainment hypothesis models turbulent ingestion of ambient fluid through the plume edges. A self-similar turbulent plume has a spreading rate proportional to its axial velocity scale; the hypothesis represents the unresolved mixing by an inward edge speed proportional to that scale. For the prescribed centreline velocity, the Boussinesq approximation givesThe entrainment coefficient $\alpha$ is dimensionless and depends on the chosen velocity/profile convention and mixing regime. Here $e$ is the inward entrainment speed relative to the moving plume boundary, and the factor two counts its two sides.

A suitable density-corrected extension is $e=\alpha W\sqrt{\rho /{\rho }_0}$, representing the reduction in ambient ingestion for a much lighter non-Boussinesq plume. It reduces to the boxed closure when $|\rho -{\rho }_0|\ll {\rho }_0$. This is a phenomenological model, not an exact identity for arbitrary turbulent flow. Woods's non-Boussinesq plume model uses this density correction. The balances in part (c) can be written with either closure before taking their common Boussinesq limit.