Inadequacy of fluvial energetics for describing gravity current autosuspension
Inadequacy of fluvial energetics for describing gravity current autosuspension
Gravity currents, such as sediment-laden turbidity currents, are ubiquitous natural flows that are driven by a density difference. Turbidity currents have provided vital motivation to advance understanding of this class of flows because their enigmatic long run-out and driving mechanisms are not properly understood. Extant models assume that material transport by gravity currents is dynamically similar to fluvial flows. Here, empirical research from different types of particle-driven gravity currents is integrated with our experimental data, to show that material transport is fundamentally different from fluvial systems. Contrary to current theory, buoyancy production is shown to have a non-linear dependence on available flow power, indicating an underestimation of the total kinetic energy lost from the mean flow. A revised energy budget directly implies that the mixing efficiency of gravity currents is enhanced.
Fukuda, Sojiro
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de Vet, Marijke G.W.
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Skevington, Edward W.G.
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Bastianon, Elena
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Fernández, Roberto
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Wu, Xuxu
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McCaffrey, William D.
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Naruse, Hajime
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Parsons, Daniel R.
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Dorrell, Robert M.
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Fukuda, Sojiro
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de Vet, Marijke G.W.
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Skevington, Edward W.G.
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Bastianon, Elena
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Fernández, Roberto
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Wu, Xuxu
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McCaffrey, William D.
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Naruse, Hajime
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Parsons, Daniel R.
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Dorrell, Robert M.
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Fukuda, Sojiro, de Vet, Marijke G.W., Skevington, Edward W.G., Bastianon, Elena, Fernández, Roberto, Wu, Xuxu, McCaffrey, William D., Naruse, Hajime, Parsons, Daniel R. and Dorrell, Robert M.
(2023)
Inadequacy of fluvial energetics for describing gravity current autosuspension.
Nature Communications, 14 (1), [2288].
(doi:10.1038/s41467-023-37724-1).
Abstract
Gravity currents, such as sediment-laden turbidity currents, are ubiquitous natural flows that are driven by a density difference. Turbidity currents have provided vital motivation to advance understanding of this class of flows because their enigmatic long run-out and driving mechanisms are not properly understood. Extant models assume that material transport by gravity currents is dynamically similar to fluvial flows. Here, empirical research from different types of particle-driven gravity currents is integrated with our experimental data, to show that material transport is fundamentally different from fluvial systems. Contrary to current theory, buoyancy production is shown to have a non-linear dependence on available flow power, indicating an underestimation of the total kinetic energy lost from the mean flow. A revised energy budget directly implies that the mixing efficiency of gravity currents is enhanced.
Text
s41467-023-37724-1
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Accepted/In Press date: 24 March 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 21 April 2023
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 491671
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/491671
ISSN: 2041-1723
PURE UUID: d35a0819-7407-4e77-9658-27e49ac2034e
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Date deposited: 03 Jul 2024 09:53
Last modified: 12 Jul 2024 02:17
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Contributors
Author:
Sojiro Fukuda
Author:
Marijke G.W. de Vet
Author:
Edward W.G. Skevington
Author:
Elena Bastianon
Author:
Roberto Fernández
Author:
Xuxu Wu
Author:
William D. McCaffrey
Author:
Hajime Naruse
Author:
Daniel R. Parsons
Author:
Robert M. Dorrell
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