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Experimental study on radial gravity currents flowing in a vegetated channel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2022

D. Petrolo Open the ORCID record for D. Petrolo [Opens in a new window] ,
M. Ungarish Open the ORCID record for M. Ungarish [Opens in a new window] ,
L. Chiapponi Open the ORCID record for L. Chiapponi [Opens in a new window]  and
S. Longo Open the ORCID record for S. Longo [Opens in a new window]
D. Petrolo*
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering and Architecture, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 181/A, 43124Parma, Italy
M. Ungarish
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa32000, Israel
L. Chiapponi
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering and Architecture, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 181/A, 43124Parma, Italy
S. Longo
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering and Architecture, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 181/A, 43124Parma, Italy
*
†Email address for correspondence: diana.petrolo@unipr.it
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Abstract

We present an experimental study of gravity currents in a cylindrical geometry, in the presence of vegetation. Forty tests were performed with a brine advancing in a fresh water ambient fluid, in lock release, and with a constant and time-varying flow rate. The tank is a circular sector of angle $30^\circ$ with radius equal to 180 cm. Two different densities of the vegetation were simulated by vertical plastic rods with diameter $D=1.6\ \textrm{cm}$. We marked the height of the current as a function of radius and time and the position of the front as a function of time. The results indicate a self-similar structure, with lateral profiles that after an initial adjustment collapse to a single curve in scaled variables. The propagation of the front is well described by a power law function of time. The existence of self-similarity on an experimental basis corroborates a simple theoretical model with the following assumptions: (i) the dominant balance is between buoyancy and drag, parameterized by a power law of the current velocity $\sim |u|^{\lambda-1}u$; (ii) the current advances in shallow-water conditions; and (iii) ambient-fluid dynamics is negligible. In order to evaluate the value of ${\lambda}$ (the only tuning parameter of the theoretical model), we performed two additional series of measurements. We found that $\lambda$ increased from 1 to 2 while the Reynolds number increased from 100 to approximately $6\times10^3$, and the drag coefficient and the transition from $\lambda=1$ to $\lambda=2$ are quantitatively affected by D, but the structure of the model is not.

JFM classification

Geophysical and Geological Flows: Gravity currents Mathematical Foundations: Topological fluid dynamics Flow Control: Drag reduction
Type
JFM Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 933 , 25 February 2022 , A46
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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