Geomorphic work by gravity currents with varying initial conditions

Gravity currents are density-driven flows which can have a high sediment transport capacity. When occurring in reservoirs, lakes and in oceans, significant geomorphic changes may occur at the bottom. The coupling between the hydrodynamics of the gravity current and sediment transport capacity is still not well known. Above all there is a lack of knowledge regarding the circulation pattern inside the currents. With her experimental research work, using advanced measurement techniques, Dr Jessica Zordan made several novel contributions answering the following question: • What are the characteristic features in the head and body regions of a gravity current generated with the lock-exchange method and which is a common structure of the inherent vortical movements? • With which parametrization the entrainment from the bottom can be defined taking into account the spatio-temporal variability of the gravity currents? • Which mechanisms govern the entrainment, transport and deposition of sediment and how the hydrodynamic of the gravity currents produces geomorphic changes on a mobile bed? • Is there an interaction between the gravity current and the entrained sediment? • How the turbulent structure of the gravity current influences the deposition of entrained sediments? By answering the above questions, Dr. Zordan could give new insights on the behavior of gravity currents flowing over a mobile bed.