On the vertical transport due to fingers in double diffusive convection

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Abstract
Salt fingering across a density interface produced by sugar and salt is investigated experimentally for varying values of initial concentrations and for times sufficiently long to observe the régimes of growth, equilibrium and final decay. Simultaneous measurements of sugar and salt concentrations and interface geometry are made. Calculations based on Stern's collective instability model allow explicit evaluation of the coefficients of the $\frac{4}{3}$-law for the sugar flux in the form suggested by Stern & Turner (1969) for the equilibrium régime. The results are verified by the experimental data. Predictions of the finger wavelengths from this model are in general agreement with the results of previous authors, while the flux-law coefficient is an order of magnitude smaller. It is concluded that the collective instability mechanism is an adequate physical description of the salt-finger mechanism.

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