TY - JOUR
T1 - Inadequacy of fluvial energetics for describing gravity current autosuspension
AU - Fukuda, Sojiro
AU - de Vet, Marijke G.W.
AU - Skevington, Edward W.G.
AU - Bastianon, Elena
AU - Fernández, Roberto
AU - Wu, Xuxu
AU - McCaffrey, William D.
AU - Naruse, Hajime
AU - Parsons, Daniel R.
AU - Dorrell, Robert M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85153546619&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85153546619&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-023-37724-1
DO - 10.1038/s41467-023-37724-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 37085497
AN - SCOPUS:85153546619
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 14
JO - Nature communications
JF - Nature communications
IS - 1
M1 - 2288
ER -