Lock-release inertial gravity currents over a thick porous layer

THOMAS, LUIS P; MARINO, BEATRIZ M; LINDEN, PAUL F.

JOURNAL OF FLUID MECHANICS

Cambridge University Press

Lugar: Cambridge, Inglaterra; Año: 2004 vol. 503 p. 299 - 319

0022-1120

This paper examines the motion of a dense fluid that develops as an inertial gravity current of decreasing mass above a horizontal porous bed, while flow described by Darcy’s law occurs in the bed. Measurements of the mass and the front position of the current in a set of laboratory experiments performed by changing different parameters are presented. The results are explained by means of a global analytical model that suggests practical correlations combining the parameters. Thus, previous experimental, numerical and theoretical fndings are extended to describe lock-release gravity currents above more realistic porous beds.