Hydraulic Theory and Particle‐Driven Gravity Currents

Abstract

Hydraulic theory, as it has been applied to compositionally driven gravity flows, involves the single simplifying assumption that the pressure in the fluid is hydrostatic [1]. This assumption provides, as a consequence, a depth independent horizontal velocity field. This approach has led to a greatly increased understanding of many of the phenomena associated with these complex flows, including issues surrounding internal hydraulic jumps and energy loss [2]. Recently, investigations into flow and deposition of particles from particle‐driven gravity currents have been carried out using an approach that employs the hydraulic theory that had proved so successful in the case of homogeneous flows [3]–[7]. Unfortunately, as we show here, there is a fundamental contradiction in adopting this simplifying assumption when particles drive the flow. This contradiction is essentially that one cannot have a hydrostatic pressure that arises from the presence of particles while at the same time maintaining a depth‐independent horizontal velocity field, as was assumed in references [3]–[7].