Gravity Current - Structure

Structure

A typical gravity current consists of a head and tail structure. The head, which is the leading edge of the gravity current, is a region in which relatively large volumes of ambient fluid are displaced. The tail is the bulk of fluid which follows the head and which is best though of as the fluid which is left behind as the gravity current advances.

Immediately in the wake of the head intense mixing occurs between the gravity current and the ambient fluid occurs. Mixing occurs from both above and below the gravity current. Mixing from above is a result of turbulent billows (Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities) which in the wake of the head and engulf ambient fluid into the tail, a process referred to as "entrainment". Mixing from below is a result of the gravity current overrunning ambient fluid, literally trapping it underneath it. Direct mixing also occurs at the front of the head through lobes and cleft structures which form on the surface of the head. According to one paradigm, the leading edge of a gravity current 'controls' the flow behind it: it provides a boundary condition for the flow.

The absorbed ambient fluid mixes with the tail of the gravity current, which means that the head of the current leaves behind it a layer of less dense fluid. In effect this can be though of like a rocket which leaves a streak of fumes behind it as it advances. In terms of structure, the tail consists of two counterflowing currents of fluid. At the bottom dense fluid flows towards the head. It is this dense current which drives the current, providing new driving head to replace the head lost due to entrainment. Above this dense current is a counterflowing current of less dense fluid which is a result of dense fluid mixing with lighter ambient fluid at the head.