Author:
LOWE RYAN J.,LINDEN P. F.,ROTTMAN JAMES W.
Abstract
Laboratory experiments were performed in which an intrusive gravity current was
observed using shadowgraph and particle tracking methods. The intrusion was generated
in a two-layer fluid with a sharp interface by mixing the fluid behind a vertical
lock gate and then suddenly withdrawing the gate from the tank. The purpose of the
experiments was to determine the structure of the velocity field inside the intrusion
and the stability characteristics of the interface. Soon after the removal of the lock
gate, the front of the intrusive gravity current travelled at a constant speed close to
the value predicted by theory for an energy-conserving gravity current. The observed
structure of the flow inside the intrusion can be divided into three regions. At the
front of the intrusion there is an energy-conserving head region in which the fluid
velocity is nearly uniform with speed equal to the front speed. This is followed by a
dissipative wake region in which large billows are present with their associated mixing
and in which the fluid velocity is observed to be non-uniform and have a maximum
speed approximately 50% greater than the front speed. Behind the wake region is a
tail region in which there is very little mixing and the velocity field is nearly uniform
with a speed slightly faster than the front speed.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Subject
Mechanical Engineering,Mechanics of Materials,Condensed Matter Physics
Cited by
60 articles.
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