Impact force of non-Boussinesq gravity-current head against a circular cylinder above the seabed

Abstract

We study the impact force of the gravity-current head on a circular cylinder above the seabed for the non-Boussinesq effect using a large-eddy simulation model well validated against laboratory data. Most existing studies of the gravity current were for the slight density difference between the current and the ambient fluid, assuming the density is constant using the Boussinesq approximation. The aim of the present study, however, is about gravity current of significant density difference. We detail the coherent turbulence structure of the gravity current and the transient oscillation of the impact force on the cylinder over a range of density differences varying from (ρs−ρa)/ρa=0.02 to 2 for the elevation relative to the diameter of the cylinder E/D=0.05, 0.4 and 1.0. The velocity and vorticity field in the current show a gravity-current head separating from the primary current driven by excess pressure at the back, with a structural similarity almost independent of the density difference. The gravity-current head’s frontal and wake velocities are determined from the numerical simulations and related to the buoyancy speed. The impact force on the cylinder rises to a peak immediately after the arrival of the gravity-current head. We propose a set of new drag and lift coefficients using a gravity-driven pressure as a reference for the impact force of the non-Boussinesq current. The peak impact force, made dimensionless by the gravity-driven pressure, is found to be relatively independent of the density difference, regardless of how large the current density may be.