Thermal Theory for Non-Boussinesq Gravity Currents Propagating on Inclined Boundaries
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 141, Issue 1
Abstract
In this study the author derived the thermal theory for non-Boussinesq gravity currents produced from an instantaneous buoyancy source propagating on an inclined boundary. For Boussinesq gravity currents on a slope, it is known that the gravity current front location history follows an asymptotic relationship, , where is the front location, and is the time, when the gravity current is sufficiently far into the deceleration phase. For non-Boussinesq gravity currents, the distance for the acceleration phase is extended attributable to the non-Boussinesq effects. When the gravity current is sufficiently far into the deceleration phase, this paper shows that the non-Boussinesq gravity currents tend to approach similar asymptote in the deceleration phase as Boussinesq gravity currents, but the approach is less rapid in non-Boussinesq gravity currents.
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Acknowledgments
The research is funded in part by the Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology through grants NSC-101-2628-E-032-003-MY3 and NSC-101-2628-E-002-039-MY3.
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Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 1 • January 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 20, 2013
Accepted: Aug 26, 2014
Published online: Oct 6, 2014
Published in print: Jan 1, 2015
Discussion open until: Mar 6, 2015
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