2-LAYER HYDRAULICS - A FUNCTIONAL-APPROACH

A new approach for investigating two-layer hydraulic exchange flows in channels is introduced. The approach is based on the functional formalism of Gill (1977) and applied to the flow through a contraction in width and to flow over a simple sill. The sill geometry is an extension of that looked at by earlier workers, in particular Farmer & Armi (1986) who used a Froude-number-plane approach. In the present paper a simple relationship between the composite Froude number and the hydraulic functional is derived, though the functional approach may also be applied to channels where a Froude number is not readily defined. The ability to trace roots of this functional from one reservoir to the other is a prerequisite for the flow to be realizable. Two hydraulic transitions are required for the flow to be fully controlled and the exchange flow rate to be maximal. If only one hydraulic transition is present, the flow is governed by the conditions in one of the reservoirs and the exchange flow rate is found to be submaximal. The flow along a channel is found to be very sensitive to small departures from symmetry about a horizontal plane. The response of the interface to the introduction of a net (barotropic) flow is found to be a discontinuous function of the strength of the forcing for some range of sill heights.