Boundary Layers & Roughness

Ongoing work targets accurate parameterization and modeling of nearshore waves, currents and turbulence in environments with complex roughness. A central theme of this work is the response of steady and oscillating flow to highly irregular, broad-banded roughness. Previous work has quantified reef roughness, examined the hydrodynamic response to a variable roughness at small scales and explored the relationship between hydrodynamic and physical roughness. 

Aerial image of North Shore Oahu study site (Mokuleia).  Roughness data from autonomous vehicle survey is overlaid with LIDAR bathymetry.

ADCP Deployment in high roughness environment (Palau)

PUBLICATIONS

M. Canals and G. Pawlak, "Three-dimensional vortex dynamics in oscillatory flow separation", Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 674, pg 408, doi:10.1017/S0022112011000012, 2011.

S. Jaramillo and G. Pawlak, “Coral reef hydrodynamics: AUV-based bed-roughness mapping over a tropical reef”, Coral Reefs, doi:10.1007/s00338-011-0731-9, 2011.

N.L Jones, R.J. Lowe, G. Pawlak, D.A. Fong, S.G. Monismith, "Plume dispersion on a fringing coral reef system", Limnology and Oceanography, 53, no.5 pt. 2, pp 2273-2286, 2008.

V. Nunes and G. Pawlak, “Observations of Physical Roughness Over a Coral Reef”, Journal of Coastal Research, 24, 2B, 2008.

R.J. Lowe, J. Falter, M. Bandet, G. Pawlak, M. Atkinson, S. Monismith, J. Koseff, "Spectral wave dissipation over barrier reef", Journal of Geophysical Research,  Vol.  110, 2005.

G. Pawlak and P. MacCready, "Oscillatory Flow across an Irregular Boundary", Journal of Geophysical Research, 2002, Vol. 107, C5, May 2002.