Author(s): Heqing Huang; Zhao Lu; Liyun Tao; Yakun Wu

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Keywords: Mbient fluid entrainment; Bulk Richardson number; Slope; Subaqueous density flows; Steady sustained inflow

Abstract: Entrainment of density flows is a key parameter in constructing predictive models of global climate, ocean flows, and turbidity currents. Our numerical experiment, which included 10 subaqueous dilute density flows with a steady sustained inflow (SSI) on a 2D channel bed slope varying from 0.1° to 90°, showed that in the slope range of 0.1–20°, there is a linear relationship between the ambient fluid entrainment and channel bed slope. We also found a power law relation between the bulk Richardson number and bed slope. On a larger slope bed, these relations broke down due to the strong head drag, which suggests that there exists a regime change from bed-supported to plunging flows at around 20° for SSI density flows on a slope bed. These findings may provide a way to quickly evaluate or parameterize subaqueous SSI density flows in the suggested slope range.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00221686.2020.1780495

Year: 2021