BUOYANCY WAVES AS A THERMAL PUMP

V. I. Merkulov

UDC 532.516

The joint effect of thermal conductivity, viscosity, and 
of an ascending flow on the thermodynamic processes proceeding in 
buoyancy waves in a compressible medium is analyzed. It is shown that 
in this case the waves act as a thermal pump that transfers heat from 
the upper cold layers of air to the lower warmer ones, thus creating 
and sustaining a negative temperature gradient. This allows one to 
adequately explain the temperature stratification observed in the 
atmosphere and in Ranque-Hilsch tubes.

Keywords: buoyancy waves, thermal pump, temperature 
stratification, Carnot cycle, Ranque tube.

S. A. Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, 
Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 4/1 Institutskaya 
Str., Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia; email: vimer@academ.org. Translated 
from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 82, No. 1, pp. 47-58, 
January-February, 2009. Original article submitted December 1, 
2006; revision submitted July 6, 2008.