ABSTRACT
Gravity currents form when a heavier fluid propagates into a lighter one (Simpson, 1997). In the case of lock-release gravity currents in channels (see sketch in Figure 1), a lateral wall is present at one of the ends of the channel and the heavier lock fluid occupies initially a finite volume between the lateral wall and the lock gate. When the lock-gate wall is removed a gravity current (GC) will start forming and propagate near the bottom wall. This case is the main focus of the present paper. Also we limit our investigation to compositional currents when the density differences are produced by a difference in a property of the fluid (e.g., temperature, salinity, etc.) and we study only the case when the initial height of the heavier lock fluid is equal to the channel height. Especially because of the possible negative effects on the environment, predicting and understanding the evolution of gravity currents is of considerable interest to both the engineering and geophysical communities (e.g., Simpson, 1997).
