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The dynamics of double-diffusive gravity currents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2006

T. Maxworthy
T. Maxworthy
Affiliation:
Departments of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089
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Abstract

Gravity currents or intrusions for which the fluid within the current contains a substance that gives it a diffusivity different from that of its surroundings are very common both in natural and technological applications. The interface between the two fluids can become the site of either a ‘fingering’ or a ‘diffusive’ type of instability, and vigorous convection and material exchange occurs (Turner 1975). This transfer of material has several important effects upon the dynamics of the intrusion. Horizontal momentum can be transferred across the interface to create a stress which in many cases dominates the more conventional viscous stresses. Entrainment into the convective plume beneath the intrusion and, in a container of finite depth, the formation of a secondary, bottom-boundary current, creates a flow external to the main intrusion which modifies its behaviour even more. Two cases have been studied: the release of a fixed volume of fluid and the injection of fluid at a constant rate for both types of interface. Several experiments on the motion of an intrusion for which the interface is essentially non-diffusive are presented for comparison.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 128 , March 1983 , pp. 259 - 282
Copyright
© 1983 Cambridge University Press

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