Gravity currents impinging on bottom-mounted square cylinders: flow fields and associated forces

The unsteady drag and lift generated by the interaction of a gravity current with a bottom-mounted square cylinder are investigated by means of high-resolution Navier–Stokes simulations. Two-dimensional simulations for Reynolds numbers ( Re ) O (1000) and three-dimensional simulations for Re = O (10000) demonstrate that the drag coefficient increases exponentially towards a maximum as the current meets the cylinder, then undergoes strong fluctuations and eventually approaches a quasi-steady value. The simulation results show that the maximum drag coefficient can reach a value of 3, with the quasi-steady value being O (1), which should aid in selecting a design drag coefficient for submarine structures under the potential impact of gravity currents. The transient drag and lift fluctuations after impact are associated with the Kelvin–Helmholtz vortices in the mixing layer between the gravity current and the ambient fluid. As these vortices pass over the cylinder, they cause the convection of separated flow regions along the bottom wall towards the cylinder. In two-dimensional simulations at Re = O (10000), these flow structures are seen to be unrealistically coherent and to persist throughout the interaction, thus resulting in a noticeable overprediction of the drag and lift fluctuations. On the other hand, the impact of the current on the cylinder is seen to be very well captured by two-dimensional simulations at all Re values. Three-dimensional simulations lead to excellent agreement with available experimental data throughout the flow/structure interaction. They show that the spanwise variation of the drag is determined by the gravity current's lobe-and-cleft structure at impact and by an unsteady cellular flow structure similar to that found in constant-density flows at later times. A comparison between gravity-current flows and corresponding constant-density flows shows the hydrostatic drag component to be important for gravity currents.