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The viscous spreading of plane and axisymmetric gravity currents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2006

N. Didden  and
T. Maxworthy
N. Didden
Affiliation:
Departments of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90007
T. Maxworthy
Affiliation:
Departments of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90007
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Abstract

Measurements of the spreading rates of gravity-driven currents at both the surface and the bottom of a fluid layer of different density are reported. For the case of a constant inflow rate the spreading relations are derived by estimating the order of magnitude of the forces involved. After an initial balance between gravity and inertia forces the final spreading phase is governed by the balance between gravity and viscous forces. For the latter flow regime, measurements in plane and axisymmetric flow geometries agree well with the spreading relations for gravity currents with a no-slip boundary. The proportionality factor, which is not predicted from this model, is then determined from the measurements and a good agreement is found with the theoretical value derived in the accompanying paper by Huppert (1982).

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 121 , August 1982 , pp. 27 - 42
Copyright
© 1982 Cambridge University Press

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