Gravity currents with variable inflow

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Abstract
We have performed a series of experiments on two-dimensional gravity currents for which the inflow rate at the origin is a power-law function of time, tα−1. The theoretical results of Huppert (1982), for currents in which there is a balance between buoyancy and viscous forces, are found to be valid for a wide range of conditions. A large numbers of experiments at a critical value of α = 7/4 show very precise agreement with the theory, while values of a parameter that separates regions in which either viscous forces or inertial forces dominate are well within limits one would expect from the order-of-magnitude arguments used.

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