Turbulent lock release gravity current

Abstract

The time evolution of a turbulent lock release gravity current, formed by a finite volume of homogeneous fluid released instantaneously into another fluid of slightly lower density was studied by experimental measurements of the density structure via elaborate digital image processing and by a numerical simulation of the flow and mixing using a two-equation turbulence model. The essential fact that the gravity current passes through an initial slumping phase in which the current head advances steadily and a second self-similar phase in which the front velocity decreases like the negative third power of the time after release is satisfactorily presented by the laboratory observation. An overall entrainment ratio proportional to the distance from the release point is found by the numerical simulation. The renormalization group (RNG) k - ε model for Reynolds-stress closure is validated to characterize the gravity current with transitional and localized turbulence.