EXPERIMENTS ON DENSITY AND TURBIDITY CURRENTS: II. UNIFORM FLOW OF DENSITY CURRENTS

1966 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 627-637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard V. Middleton
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Average Velocity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Quantitative Estimation ◽  
Uniform Flow ◽  
Turbidity Currents ◽  
Density Current ◽  
Density Currents ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Fluid Interface

The basic theory for the average velocity of uniform flow of a density current is now well established. The resistance at the bottom may be estimated from reasonable assumptions regarding the roughness of the bottom and the size of the current. The principal problem remaining is quantitative estimation of the resistance of the upper (fluid) interface. A review of the literature suggests that this resistance increases with increase in Froude number and decreases with increase in Reynolds number, and the writer's experiments support this hypothesis.As many turbidity currents are large scale and flow over low slopes of relatively small roughness it seems probable that both the bottom resistance and the resistance at the upper interface are small.

Comparison of 2-D Turbulent Particle Laden Density Current and Wall Jets

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Hormozi ◽  
B. Firoozabadi ◽  
H. Ghasvari Jahromi ◽  
H. Afshin
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Suspended Solids ◽  
Turbidity Currents ◽  
Density Current ◽  
Wall Jet ◽  
Density Currents ◽  
Ambient Water ◽  
Wall Jets ◽  
Good Agreement

Dense underflows are continuous currents, which move down the slope due to the fact that, their density are heavier than ambient water. In turbidity currents the density differences arises from suspended solids. Vicinity of the wall make density currents and wall jets similar in some sense but Variation of density cause this flows more complex than wall jets. An improved form of ‘near-wall’ k-ε turbulence model is chosen which preserve all characteristics of both density and wall jet currents and a compression is made between them. Then the outcomes from low Reynolds number k-ε model is compared with v2–f model which show similarity. Also results show good agreement with experimental data.

scholarly journals Effects of morphology in controlling propagation of density currents in a reservoir using uncalibrated three-dimensional hydrodynamic modeling

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Behnam Zamani ◽  
Manfred Koch ◽  
Ben R. Hodges
Keyword(s):  
Hydrodynamic Model ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Density Current ◽  
Density Currents ◽  
Large Reservoir ◽  
Bottom Water Temperature ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Basin Morphology ◽  
Southwest Iran

In this study, effects of basin morphology are shown to affect density current hydrodynamics of a large reservoir using a three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamic model that is validated (but not calibrated) with in situ observational data. The AEM3D hydrodynamic model was applied for 5-month simulations during winter and spring flooding for the Maroon reservoir in southwest Iran, where available observations indicated that large-scale density currents had previously occurred. The model results were validated with near-bottom water temperature measurements that were previously collected at five locations in the reservoir. The Maroon reservoir consists of upper and lower basins that are connected by a deep and narrow canyon. Analyses of simulations show that the canyon strongly affects density current propagation and the resulting differing limnological characteristics of the two basins. The evolution of the Wedderburn Number, Lake Number, and Schmidt stability number are shown to be different in the two basins, and the difference is attributable to the morphological separation by the canyon. Investigation of the background potential energy (BPE) changes along the length of the canyon indicated that a density front passes through the upper section of the canyon but is smoothed into simple filling of the lower basin. The separable dynamics of the basins has implications for the complexity of models needed for representing both water quality and sedimentation.

3-D Simulation of Conservative and Non-Conservative Density Current

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Hormozi ◽  
B. Firoozabadi ◽  
H. Ghasvari Jahromi ◽  
S. M. H. Moosavi Hekmati
Keyword(s):  
Flow Structure ◽  
Environmental Flows ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Turbidity Currents ◽  
Density Current ◽  
Density Currents ◽  
Straight Channel ◽  
Suspended Material ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Good Agreement

Flows generated by density differences are called gravity or density currents which are generic features of many environmental flows. These currents are classified as the conservative and non-conservative flows whether the buoyancy flux is conserved or changed respectively. In this paper, a low Reynolds k-ε turbulence model is used to simulate three dimensional density and turbidity currents. Also, a series of experiments were conducted in a straight channel to study the characteristics of the non-conservative density current. In experiments, Kaolin was used as the suspended material. Comparisons are made between conservative and non-conservative's height, concentration and velocity profiles of the current and their variations along the transverse intersections. Outcomes indicate that the presence of the particles influences the flow structure sensibly. The results are compared with the experiments and showed a good agreement.

3-D Simulation of Turbulent Density

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Hormozi ◽  
B. Firoozabadi ◽  
H. Ghasvari Jahromi ◽  
H. Afshin
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Fine Particles ◽  
Density Current ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Density Currents ◽  
Ambient Fluid ◽  
Sluice Gate ◽  
Dense Fluid ◽  
Sloping Surface

Density current is a dense fluid, which is continuously released from a source and spreads down a sloping surface inside a lighter, motionless fluid. A low-Reynolds number k-ε model (Launder and Sharma, 1974) has been used to simulate the behavior of 3-D density currents. Density current with a uniform velocity and concentration enters the channel via a sluice gate into a lighter ambient fluid and moves forward down-slope. The model has been verified with the experimental data sets. Although the k-ε Launder and Sharma model is applied here to a conservative density current, it seems the analysis is valid in general for turbidity current laden with fine particles.

scholarly journals The Intrusion Depth of Density Currents Flowing into Stratified Water Bodies

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (8) ◽  
pp. 1935-1947 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathew Wells ◽  
Parthiban Nadarajah
Keyword(s):  
Water Column ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Buoyancy Flux ◽  
Density Current ◽  
Density Currents ◽  
Coriolis Parameter ◽  
Entrainment Ratio ◽  
Geostrophic Balance ◽  
Intrusion Depth

Abstract Theory and laboratory experiments are presented describing the depth at which a density current intrudes into a linearly stratified water column, as a function of the entrainment ratio E, the buoyancy flux in the dense current B, and the magnitude of the stratification N. The main result is that Z ∼ E−1/3B1/3/N. It is shown that the depth of the intrusion scales as Z ∼ (3 ± 1)B1/3/N for laboratory experiments, and as for oceanic density currents. The velocity of a large-scale density current is controlled by a geostrophic balance defined as Ugeo = 0.25g′s/f, where s is the slope and f is the Coriolis parameter. The geostrophic buoyancy flux is then defined by Bgeo = g′Ugeoh, with g′ the reduced gravity and h the thickness of the current. The scaling herein implies that the depth of an oceanic intrusion is relatively insensitive to changes in source water properties but is very sensitive to changes in the stratification of the water column, consistent with the previous scaling of Price and Baringer. For example, if the buoyancy flux of a dense current were to double while the stratification remained constant, then there would only be a 25% increase in the intrusion depth, whereas doubling the stratification would result in a 50% decrease of the intrusion depth.

EXPERIMENTS ON DENSITY AND TURBIDITY CURRENTS: I. MOTION OF THE HEAD

1966 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 523-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard V. Middleton
Keyword(s):  
Turbidity Current ◽  
Turbidity Currents ◽  
Density Current ◽  
Density Currents ◽  
Salt Solutions ◽  
Overlying Water ◽  
Numerical Coefficient ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Clay Suspensions

Two series of experiments were performed in a lucite flume 5 meters long, 50 cm deep, and 15.4 cm wide. In the first series saline density currents were formed by pumping salt solutions at constant discharge into the tilted flume. In the second series, the flume was horizontal and turbidity currents were formed by the releasing of suspensions of plastic beads from a box at one end.In both series of experiments a characteristic head was formed at the front of the flow. It was found that the motion of the head in the turbidity current experiments was closely described by laws developed by Keulegan (1958) for saline surges, and it is concluded that certain aspects of the motion of turbidity current heads can be investigated indirectly by means of experiments on density currents formed from clay suspensions or salt solutions.The salt-solution experiments were designed to investigate the effect of bottom slope on the motion of density current heads. It was found that the velocity of density (and by inference, turbidity) current heads on slopes up to 4% is adequately expressed by Keulegan's formula[Formula: see text]where v is the velocity of the head, Δρ is the difference between the density of the current (ρ) and that of the overlying water, d2 is the thickness of the head, and g is the acceleration due to gravity. The numerical coefficient is approximately constant, but may increase slightly with increase in slope. The form of the equation differs greatly from that of the Chézy equation which has previously been used for the analysis of the movement of turbidity currents.Observations were also made regarding the shape of the head and the motion within and in front of the head.

scholarly journals Experimental observation of saline underflows and turbidity currents, flowing over rough beds

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (11) ◽  
pp. 834-844 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peyman Varjavand ◽  
Mehdi Ghomeshi ◽  
Ali Hosseinzadeh Dalir ◽  
Davood Farsadizadeh ◽  
Alireza Docheshmeh Gorgij
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
Turbidity Currents ◽  
Density Current ◽  
Normal Velocity ◽  
Density Currents ◽  
Transport Mechanisms ◽  
Maximum Value ◽  
Bed Roughness ◽  
Rough Beds ◽  
Peak Value

Density currents are formed when gravity acts upon a density difference between two different fluids, and the driving force is the buoyancy force. These currents are the most important transport mechanisms and deposition of noncohesive sediments in narrow and deep reservoirs. In this research, 126 experiments were performed to investigate the effects of artificial bed roughness on saline and sediment-laden density currents. Conic and cylindrical shapes of roughness were used with three different heights. Velocity and concentration profiles were measured in 4 and 3 cross-sections, respectively. Presence of roughness causes increasing density current body thickness, decreasing maximum value of velocity and increasing distance of peak value of velocity point from the bed in the normal velocity profile. Coefficient of entrainment in the rough beds was more than in smooth beds and increased for greater roughness heights. A special behavior, referred to as “lifting phenomenon”, was present in some of the tests and which had an effect on the velocity profiles.

A numerical study of the transition of jet diffusion flames

1990 ◽  
Vol 431 (1882) ◽  
pp. 301-314 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Diffusion Coefficient ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Flame Surface ◽  
Transition Mechanism ◽  
Air Stream ◽  
Scale Fluctuation

A numerical study on the transition from laminar to turbulent of two-dimensional fuel jet flames developed in a co-flowing air stream was made by adopting the flame surface model of infinite chemical reaction rate and unit Lewis number. The time dependent compressible Navier–Stokes equation was solved numerically with the equation for coupling function by using a finite difference method. The temperature-dependence of viscosity and diffusion coefficient were taken into account so as to study effects of increases of these coefficients on the transition. The numerical calculation was done for the case when methane is injected into a co-flowing air stream with variable injection Reynolds number up to 2500. When the Reynolds number was smaller than 1000 the flame, as well as the flow, remained laminar in the calculated domain. As the Reynolds number was increased above this value, a transition point appeared along the flame, downstream of which the flame and flow began to fluctuate. Two kinds of fluctuations were observed, a small scale fluctuation near the jet axis and a large scale fluctuation outside the flame surface, both of the same origin, due to the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability. The radial distributions of density and transport coefficients were found to play dominant roles in this instability, and hence in the transition mechanism. The decreased density in the flame accelerated the instability, while the increase in viscosity had a stabilizing effect. However, the most important effect was the increase in diffusion coefficient. The increase shifted the flame surface, where the large density decrease occurs, outside the shear layer of the jet and produced a thick viscous layer surrounding the jet which effectively suppressed the instability.

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