Turbidity currents are one of the primary means of transport of sediment in the ocean. They are fast-moving, destructive fluid flows which are able to entrain sediment from the seabed and accelerate downslope in a process known as `ignition'. In this thesis, we investigate one particular model for turbidity currents; the `Parker model' of Parker, Pantin and Fukushima (1986), which models the current as a continuous sediment stream and consists of four equations for the depth, velocity, sediment concentration and turbulent kinetic energy of the flow. We propose two reduced forms of the model; a one-equation velocity model and a two-equation shallow-water model. Both these models give an insight into the dynamics of a turbidity current propagating downstream and we find the slope profile to be particularly influential. Regions of supercritical and subcritical flow are identified and the model is solved through a combination of asymptotic approximations and numerical solutions. We next consider the dynamics of the four-equation model, which provides a particular focus on Parker's turbulent kinetic energy equation. This equation is found to fail catastrophically and predict complex-valued solutions when the sediment-induced stratification of the current becomes large. We propose a new `transition' model for turbulent kinetic energy which features a switch from an erosional, turbulent regime to a depositional, stably stratified regime. Finally, the transition model is solved for a series of case studies and a numerical parameter study is conducted in an attempt to answer the question `when does a turbidity current become extinct?'.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:572496 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Fay, Gemma Louise |
| Contributors | Fowler, Andrew Cadle ; Howell, Peter D. |
| Publisher | University of Oxford |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:62bb9382-1c50-47f3-8f59-66924cc31760 |
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