Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2009/iii/paper-73/1/i/solution

Choose upslope and normally downwards from the impermeable roof, so the buoyant layer occupies . Use the hydrostatic approximation and neglect the ambient return-flow pressure correction of relative order . Pressure continuity at the interface gives the pressure inside the buoyant layer as
The along-slope Darcy velocity is therefore
Define . Integrating over depth gives the volume flux per unit width . Local fluid-volume conservation, including porosity, is . Hence the inclined porous gravity current satisfies
The first term is upslope advection driven by the mass density difference; the second is nonlinear hydrostatic spreading. The Darcy velocity and the corresponding pore velocity must be distinguished.

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