Experimental and large eddy simulation results for the purging of salt water from a cavity by an overflow of fresh water

This paper presents the results of an experimental and numerical investigation of a flow in which salt water is purged from a square cavity by an overflow of fresh water. Two numerical simulations are presented, one two-dimensional simulation and one three-dimensional large eddy simulation. The results are used to describe the important transport mechanisms that occur during the purging process. In particular, we propose a mechanism for the formation of the streamers observed in the experiment. We also discuss the performance of the numerical models for flows of this type.