Author(s): Sepideh Majdabadi Farahani; Alessandro Lenci; Vittorio Di Federico

Linked Author(s): Vittorio Di Federico

Keywords: Gravity currents; Similarity solution; Radial propagation

Abstract: We study a two-layer gravity current made of two fluids having different viscosity and density as it advances in a homogeneous porous medium of assigned permeability. The two fluid layers propagate above a horizontal, impermeable boundary into an ambient third fluid of smaller density. Each layer of fluid has a constant given volume and advances in radial geometry, extending earlier studies devoted to plane geometry. Under the lubrication approximation, the pressure gradient is hydrostatic and the equations governing the depth of each of the two layers, together with the global conservation of mass for each layer, are amenable to an analytic similarity solution governed by three key parameters: the volume ratio, the viscosity ratio, and the buoyancy ratio. A special case with the two currents having a constant depth ratio is then illustrated.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3850/978-90-833476-1-5_iahr40wc-p1042-cd

Year: 2023