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Particle-driven gravity currents down planar slopes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 1999

ROGER T. BONNECAZE
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712-1062, USA
JOHN R. LISTER
Affiliation:
Institute of Theoretical Geophysics, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Silver St, Cambridge CB3 9EW, UK

Abstract

Particle-driven gravity currents, as exemplified by either turbidity currents in the ocean or ignimbrite flows in the atmosphere, are buoyancy-driven flows due to a suspension of dense particles in an ambient fluid. We present a theoretical study on the dynamics of and deposition from a turbulent current flowing down a uniform planar slope from a constant-flux point source of particle-laden fluid. The flow is modelled using the shallow-water equations, including the effects of bottom friction and entrainment of ambient fluid, coupled to an equation for the transport and settling of the particles. Two flow regimes are identified. Near the source and for mild slopes, the flow is dominated by a balance between buoyancy and bottom friction. Further downstream and for steeper slopes, entrainment also affects the behaviour of the current. Similarity solutions are also developed for the simple cases of homogeneous gravity currents with no settling of particles in the friction-dominated and entrainment-dominated regimes. Estimates of the width and length of the deposit from a monodisperse particle-driven gravity current with settling are derived from scaling analysis for each regime, and the contours of the depositional patterns are determined from numerical solution of the governing equations.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

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