Numerical simulation of turbidity current and sediment characteristics in submarine canyons

Wang Yue; Sun Yongfu; Xiu Zongxiang; Song Yupeng; Wang Kemeng; Xie Qiuhong

doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-4193.2020.11.008

Volume 42 Issue 11

Dec. 2020

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Wang Yue，Sun Yongfu，Xiu Zongxiang, et al. Numerical simulation of turbidity current and sediment characteristics in submarine canyons[J]. Haiyang Xuebao，2020, 42(11)：75–87 doi: 10.3969/j.issn.0253-4193.2020.11.008

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Numerical simulation of turbidity current and sediment characteristics in submarine canyons

doi: 10.3969/j.issn.0253-4193.2020.11.008

1.
First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao 266061, China
2.
Laboratory for Marine Geology and Environment, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), Qingdao 266237, China
3.
College of Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China

Received Date: 2019-11-11
Rev Recd Date: 2020-03-13

Available Online: 2020-11-20

Publish Date: 2020-11-25

Abstract

Abstract

Numerical simulation has become an important way to research the turbidity current on the seabed. The numerical simulation of the current and sedimentary characteristics of the turbidity current on the seabed is significance to the deep water sedimentary system, the stability evaluation of seabed engineering and the deep-sea oil and gas resource exploration. A numerical model based on Navier-Stokes equation and the turbulence k-ε model for the simulation of turbidity current is applied to study the current and deposition of turbidity current with constant inflows into continuous slope breaks. Initial conditions such as different particle size, velocity and suspended particle volume fraction were set in the simulation. Simulated results show that the averaged velocity of the turbidity current accelerates at the slope, on the nearly horizontal bed, velocity drops obviously and gradually deposits at the horizontal bed. The acceleration of turbidity current at small slope does not affect the deposition trend. The thickness of the current gradually increases due to the environmental water entrainment, and the turbidity current head shape and flow characteristics are conformed favorably with the measured data. In addition, this paper also simulates the turbidity current of multi-frequency continuous inflow, and compares the simulation results with the measured sedimentary characteristics. The results show that the deposition of multi-frequency continuous inflow turbidity current may form the superposition of several discontinuous bauma sequences on the vertical strata.
- turbidity current,
- sedimentation,
- mathematical model,
- slope break

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References(40)

References

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