Paper 3, Section II, C
Part IB, 2019
A cubic box of side , enclosing the region , contains equal volumes of two incompressible fluids that remain distinct. The system is initially at rest, with the fluid of density occupying the region and the fluid of density occupying the region , and with gravity . The interface between the fluids is then slightly perturbed. Derive the linearized equations and boundary conditions governing small disturbances to the initial state.
In the case , show that the angular frequencies of the normal modes are given by
and express the allowable values of the wavenumber in terms of . Identify the lowestfrequency non-trivial mode . Comment on the limit . What physical behaviour is expected in the case ?