Interaction of internal gravity current with an obstacle on the channel bottom

The problem of hydrodynamic loads arising from the interaction of gravity currents with an obstacle on the channel bottom was studied experimentally. The gravity-current structure was visualized at the stage of formation and at the stage of interaction with the obstacle. The dependence of the propagation velocity of the gravity-current front on the nondimensional current depth and the Archimedes number was studied. In the region of self-similarity in the Archimedes number, the behavior of hydrodynamic-load coefficients was studied as a function of the nondimensional gravity current depth. © 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.