Numerical study of lock exchange turbidity current depositional behavior in stratified environment

An important types of density currents is called turbidity currents, where the density difference is due to the presence of suspended solid particles. In this paper, 3D numerical simulation of lock-exchange particle laden density current is presented in order to investigate the hydrodynamic of the current in density stratified environment. Simulations are carried out using Large Eddy Simulation method, three-dimensional Box filter, dynamic Smagorinsky method and Van driest damping function. The obtained results in stratified case are in good agreement with experimental data. Also, the presence of stratified environment significantly reduces the current velocity, but does not have any significant effect on the sedimentation pattern. In addition, the results show that increasing the slope leads to increase in sedimentation. It was also observed that increasing the particle diameter reduces the current momentum and increased sedimentation. For more accurate representation of the particle interaction, the particle settling velocity also varies with concentration. The analysis show that assuming the variable settling velocity in the early stages of the current leads to insignificant change in the front velocity, but when the flow advances more, the faster front velocity will be predicted.