INERTIAL COUPLING OF FLUIDS WITH LARGE DENSITY CONTRAST

The coupling of two fluids of large density contrast is considered, an d it is shown that the presence of a discontinuity of Lagrangian veloc ity across the interface between the two fluids, due to gravity waves, leads to an inertially coupled drag law of the form tau(s) = K\ rho1( 1/2)u1 - rho2(1/2)u2\(rho1(1/2)u1 - rho2(1/2)u2), where rho1 and rho2 are the densities of the fluids, u1 and u2 are the tangential fluid ve locities relative to the interfacial non-wave induced velocity, K is a drag coefficient and tau(s) is the interfacial shearing stress.