Hairpin vortices and highly elongated flow structures in a stably stratified shear layer

Turbulent structures in stably stratified shear layers are studied with direct numerical simulation. Flow visualization confirms the existence of hairpin vortices and highly elongated structures with positive and negative velocity fluctuations, whose streamwise lengths divided by the layer thickness are $O(10^{0})$ and $O(10^{1})$ , respectively. The flow at the wavelength related to these structures makes a large contribution to turbulent kinetic energy. These structures become prominent in late time, but with small buoyancy Reynolds numbers indicating suppression of turbulent mixing. Active turbulent mixing associated with the hairpin vortices, however, does occur. The structures and the vertical profile of the integral shear parameter show connections between stable stratified shear layers and wall-bounded shear flows.