Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-s9k8s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-01T13:23:47.305Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Gravity currents with variable inflow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2006

T. Maxworthy
T. Maxworthy
Affiliation:
Institut für Hydromechanik, Universität Karlsruhe, D 7500, Karlsruhe 1 Perermanent address: Departments of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We have performed a series of experiments on two-dimensional gravity currents for which the inflow rate at the origin is a power-law function of time, tα−1. The theoretical results of Huppert (1982), for currents in which there is a balance between buoyancy and viscous forces, are found to be valid for a wide range of conditions. A large numbers of experiments at a critical value of α = 7/4 show very precise agreement with the theory, while values of a parameter that separates regions in which either viscous forces or inertial forces dominate are well within limits one would expect from the order-of-magnitude arguments used.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 128 , March 1983 , pp. 247 - 257
Copyright
© 1983 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barenblatt, G. I. 1952 Prikl. Math. Mekh. 16, 67–78 and 679–698.
Didden, N. & Maxworthy, T. 1982 The viscous spreading of plane and axisymmetric gravity currents J. Fluid Mech. 121, 27–42.Google Scholar
Huppert, H. 1982 The propagation of two-dimensional and axisymmetric viscous gravity currents over a rigid horizontal surface J. Fluid Mech. 121, 43–58.Google Scholar
Maxworthy, T. 1983 The dynamics of double-diffusive gravity currents J. Fluid Mech. 128, 259–282.Google Scholar
Lighthill, M. J. & Whitham, G. B. 1955 Kinematic waves I. Flood movement in long rivers. Proc. R. Soc. Lond A 229, 291–316.Google Scholar