Deposition from Particle-Laden, Round, Turbulent, Horizontal, Buoyant Jets in Stationary and Coflowing Receiving Fluids

Abstract

Results are presented from a series of laboratory experiments investigating the characteristic features of particle-laden, round, turbulent, buoyant jets discharged horizontally into stationary and coflowing receiving fluids. For the volumetric source concentrations of particles tested ( $\sim$ 0.1%), the presence of the particle load was found to have no significant influence on mean buoyant jet trajectories. Deposition patterns on the bed of the receiving water container indicated the existence of two separate sedimentation processes for discharges into stationary or coflowing ambients, namely (1) a relatively concentrated, narrow band of particle accumulation associated with near-source fallout from the buoyant jet margins; and (2) a broader and more disperse downstream depositional fan associated with particle fallout from the radially-expanding surface gravity current formed by the impingement of the buoyant jet with the free surface of the receiving fluid. Scaling arguments have been developed and applied successfully to deposition length scales associated with these sedimentation patterns, allowing the quantitative characteristics and parametric dependences of the deposition distributions to be established.