Numerical simulation of 3D submarine turbidity currents

Submarine turbidity currents are caused by the dilution of fine sediments in water, making the density of the mixture greater than the density of the environment fluid (sea water). The investigation on submarine turbidity currents is important as they can modify the bathymetry of the sea bottom by means of erosion and deposition of sediments. In this work we propose a mathematical model for 3D submarine turbidity currents. Such a mathematical model accounts for the major issues: entrainment of environment fluid, sedimentation and deposition of sediments. Numerical results are compared with experiments. The agreement is fairly good and shows that the main features of the physical phenomenon are reproduced by the mathematical model.