Title
Density Effects at a Concordant Bed Natural River Confluence
Date Issued
01 April 2020
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Constantinescu G.
Rhoads B.
Lewis Q.
Sukhodolov A.
Publisher(s)
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Abstract
Confluences are locations of complex hydrodynamic conditions within river systems. The effects on hydrodynamics and mixing of temperature-induced density differences between incoming flows are investigated at a small-size, concordant bed confluence. To evaluate density effects, results of eddy-resolving simulations for a densimetric Froude number Fr = 4.9 (weak-density-effects cases) and Fr = 1.6 (strong-density-effects cases) are compared to results of simulations in which the densities of the incoming flows do not differ (no-density-effects cases). Flow patterns predicted for both weak- and strong-density-effects cases show that secondary flow develops with increasing distance from the confluence apex. The pattern of secondary flow is characterized by denser fluid on one side of the confluence moving near the bed toward the side of the downstream channel corresponding to the less dense fluid and the less dense fluid moving near the free surface in the opposite direction. This pattern of fluid motion is similar to a spatially evolving lock-exchange cross flow. In the strong-density-effects simulations, a cross-stream cell of secondary flow develops at the density interface between the flows, similar to interfacial billows generated in classical lock-exchange flows. Density effects increase global mixing with respect to corresponding no-density-effects cases regardless of whether the high-momentum stream contains the higher-density fluid or the lower-density fluid. When density effects are weak, the lock-exchange mechanism either reinforces the pattern of mixing associated with secondary flow induced by inertial forces, particularly helical motion, or opposes this pattern of mixing, depending on which tributary contains the denser fluid. When density effects are strong, flow from the upstream channel with the denser fluid moves under the flow from the upstream channel with the less dense fluid.
Volume
56
Issue
4
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ingeniería oceanográfica
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85083999409
Source
Water Resources Research
ISSN of the container
00431397
Sponsor(s)
The data can be accessed at the website (https://databank.illinois.edu/datasets/IDB-6257171). The authors would like to thank Dr. Anand Padmanabhan and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) for providing the computational resources needed to perform the simulations. This work was supported by the BCS Geography and Spatial Sciences Program of the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant 1359836 and partly by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) under Grant SU 405/10. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. National Science Foundation. The data can be accessed at the website ( https://databank.illinois.edu/datasets/IDB‐6257171 ). The authors would like to thank Dr. Anand Padmanabhan and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign (UIUC) for providing the computational resources needed to perform the simulations. This work was supported by the BCS Geography and Spatial Sciences Program of the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant 1359836 and partly by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) under Grant SU 405/10. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. National Science Foundation.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus