Numerical Study of Turbidity Currents with Sudden-Release and Sustained-Inflow Mechanisms
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 9
Abstract
A well-tested numerical model based on the Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations with turbulence closure is further validated against three groups of experimental data on lock-exchange gravity flows. The model is then applied to study larger-scale turbidity currents with sudden-release and/or sustained inflow mechanisms. At the field-scale, sudden-release turbidity currents are found to be essentially unsteady with depth-averaged flow variables varying with time and distance from the upstream boundary. Turbidity currents with sustained inflows reach a quasi-equilibrium state in the body of the current. The simulation of a turbidity current initiated by sudden-release and then fed by sustained inflow reveals that, initially, two bore heads appear in the current with the second bore head resulting from sustained inflow and eventually catches up with the first one. Model results show that, depending on onset mechanism and slope, if the erosion rate of sediment exceeds the deposition rate, turbidity currents at the field scale can experience self-acceleration, a process predicted earlier by theory but not demonstrated in laboratory experiments.
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Acknowledgments
This research was funded by Shell International Exploration & Production Company. The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding and permission to publish these results. The second writer also acknowledges funding from the National Science Foundation CAREER award (0134167). The writers would like to thank Michael E. Meadow for his editorial assistance with the paper. Comments from three anonymous reviewers were helpful.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 9 • September 2008
Pages: 1199 - 1209
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Jan 11, 2007
Accepted: Jan 14, 2008
Published online: Sep 1, 2008
Published in print: Sep 2008
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