Intrusive gravity currents

Intrusive gravity currents arise when a fluid of intermediate density intrudes into an ambient fluid. These intrusions may occur in both natural and human-made settings and may be the result of a sudden release of a fixed volume of fluid or the steady or time-dependent injection of such a fluid. In this article we analytically and numerically analyze intrusive gravity currents arising both from the sudden release of a fixed volume and the steady injection of fluid having a density that is intermediate between the densities of an upper layer bounded by a free surface and a heavier lower layer resting on a flat bottom. For the physical problems of interest we assume that the dynamics of the flow are dominated by a balance between inertial and buoyancy forces with viscous forces being negligible. The three-layer shallow-water equations used to model the two-dimensional flow regime include the effects of the surrounding fluid on the intrusive gravity current. These effects become more pronounced as the fraction of the total depth occupied by the intrusive current increases, To obtain some analytical information concerning the factors effecting bore formation we further reduce the complexity of our three-layer model by assuming small density differences among the different layers. This reduces the model equations from a 6 x 6 to a 4 x 4 system. The limit of applicability of this weakly stratified model for various ranges of density differences is examined numerically. Numerical results, in most instances, are obtained using MacCormack's method. It is found that the intrusive gravity current displays a wide range of flow behavior and that this behavior is a strong function of the fractional depth occupied by the release volume and any asymmetries in the density differences among the various layers. For example: in the initially symmetric sudden release problem it is found that an interior bore does not form when the fractional depth of the release volume is equal to or less than 50% of the total depth. The numerical simulations of fixed-volume releases of the intermediate layer for various density and initial depth ratios demonstrate that the intermediate layer quickly slumps from any isostatically uncompensated state to its Archimedean level thereby creating a wave of opposite sign ahead of the intrusion on the interface between the upper and lower layers. Similarity solutions are obtained for several cases that include both steady injection and sudden releases and these are in agreement with the numerical solutions of the shallow-water equations. The 4 x 4 weak stratification system is also subjected to a wavefront analysis to determine conditions for the initiation of leading-edge bores. These results also appear to be in agreement with numerical solutions of the shallow-water equations.