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Flow structure of unconfined turbidity currents interacting with an obstacle

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Abstract

Driven by a growing importance to engineered structures, investigating the flow characteristics of turbidity currents interacting with a basal obstruction has become popular over the last three decades. However, research has focused on confined studies or numerical simulations, whereas in situ turbidity currents are typically unconfined. The present study investigates experimentally the velocity and turbulence structure of an unconfined turbidity current, in the immediate regions surrounding a rectangular obstacle. Initial density of the current, and substrate condition is varied. Through a novel technique of installing ultrasonic probes within the obstacle, the presence of a velocity recirculation region immediately upstream and downstream of the obstacle is revealed and confirmed with high-resolution imagery. This was found to be comparable to previous confined studies, suggesting that stream-wise velocity profile structure is somewhat independent of confinement. The obstacle was found to reduce velocity and turbulence intensity maxima downstream of the obstacle when compared with unobstructed tests.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Trevor Patrick, Geoff Kirby and Jim Luo for their help in constructing and installing required experimental components.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Water Engineering, Tonkin & Taylor Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand

    Richard I. Wilson

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Heide Friedrich

  3. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Wellington, New Zealand

    Craig Stevens

  4. Department of Physics, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Craig Stevens

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  1. Richard I. Wilson
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Correspondence to Richard I. Wilson.

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Wilson, R.I., Friedrich, H. & Stevens, C. Flow structure of unconfined turbidity currents interacting with an obstacle. Environ Fluid Mech 18, 1571–1594 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10652-018-9631-7

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