Injection of an Intermediate Fluid into a Rotating Cylindrical Container Filled with Two-layered Fluid

A median-density fluid was injected into the upper layer of a two-layered fluid in a rotating cylindrical container. Several sets of the top and bottom boundary configurations were employed and the flow pattern of each layer including the injected fluid was observed to determine the factors that affect the path of the injected intermediate fluid. The axisymmetric path of the intermediate fluid when the upper layer had a free surface, changed into the asymmetric path with bulged-shape radial spreading whenever either the upper layer or the lower layer had ${\beta}$-effect. The internal Fronds number that controls the shape of the interface turned out to be the most important parameter that determines the radial spreading in terms of location and strength. When the upper and lower layer had the ${\beta}$-effect, convective overturning produced anticyclonic vortices at the frontal edge of the intermediate fluid, and that could enhance the vertical mixing of different density fluids. The intermediate fluid did not produce any topographic effect on the upper-layer motion during its spreading over the interface, since its thickness was very small. However, its anticyclonic motion within the bulged-shape produced a cyclonic motion in the lower layer just beneath the bulge.