Alan Cuthbertson

Alan Cuthbertson
University of Dundee · Division of Civil Engineering

PhD, BEng

About

84
Publications
12,789
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610
Citations
Additional affiliations
May 2001 - May 2010
University of Dundee
Position
  • Postdoctoral researcg Associate

Publications

Publications (84)
Article
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Freshwater inputs originating from terrestrial streams and gullies that discharge into quiescent, semi-enclosed coastal regions (such as estuaries, tidal inlets or lagoons), typically provide point sources of nutrients (e.g. nitrates, phosphates) and/or contaminants (e.g. pesticides, pathogens) that may have a deleterious impact on water quality. M...
Article
Dumping blasted rock fragments into water bodies through vertical fallpipes can be a challenging engineering activity due to the concerns of dispersion of fine contents (suspended sediments). This study aims to provide better understanding of the fallpipe rock dumping processes through numerical simulation approaches. We propose a modified multipha...
Article
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The transition between the slope and basin floor is typically marked by a slope break, in some cases causing channels to terminate and turbidity currents to undergo a loss of confinement. It is thus essential to understand how these slope breaks and losses of confinement influence the hydrodynamic evolution of turbidity currents and impact their de...
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The paper presents internal-flow hydraulics for stratified flows generated in laboratory-scale channels with different geometries, forcing conditions and two-layer flow regimes. Analytical model formulations are presented for the internal-flow head function of quadratic-type channels. While the study focuses on maximal two-layer exchange, where two...
Article
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With the rapid development of commercial aquaculture in recent decades, large numbers of submerged cages or pens are clustered in fish farms that are commonly located within inland lakes, reservoirs, and coastal embayments around the world. The submerged structures have significant influence on both the flow fields and mass transport processes in s...
Article
Aquaculture cages constructed from rigid material have become increasingly popular in recent years due in part to the continuous expansion of the aquaculture industry offshore, where cages need to withstand much harsher ocean conditions. Most previous studies of hydrodynamic interactions with aquaculture cages have explored the impacts of more trad...
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Differential parametric values associated with bed load sediment transport, that result at the same discharge levels on the rising and falling limbs of a flood hydrograph, are usually defined as bed load hysteresis. This hysteresis in bed load sediment transport rates is of considerable interest in the field of fluvial hydraulics. Within this study...
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The flocculation of cohesive sediments represents a critical process in coastal sediment transport, with its appropriate representation in numerical models crucial for the prediction of contaminant transport, coastal morphodynamics and engineering problems. In this study, a flocculation model considering the effects of multiple fractal dimensions i...
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The flocculation of cohesive sediments represents a critical process in coastal sediment transport, with its appropriate representation in numerical models crucial for the prediction of contaminant transport, coastal morphodynamics and engineering problems. In this study, a flocculation model considering the effects of multiple fractal dimensions i...
Article
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This paper presents new laboratory-scale numerical simulations of density-driven exchange flows generated across an idealised, submerged sill obstruction under both non-rotating and rotating frames of reference using the Bergen Ocean Model (BOM), a three-dimensional general ocean circulation model.
Article
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Natural river channels that are sediment supply limited due to upstream water management practices and/or flow regulation are often subject to in-channel bed degradation and bed surface restructuring during natural flood hydrographs or controlled flow releases from upstream dams. The heterogeneity of sediment sizes present in these channels means t...
Article
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A large-scale experimental study has been conducted at the Coriolis Rotating Platform to investigate the dynamics of uni and bi-directional exchange flows along a channel with a trapezoidal cross-section under the influence of background rotation. High-resolution two-dimensional Particle Image Velocimetry and micro-conductivity probes were used to...
Article
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Cage-based aquaculture has been growing rapidly in recent years. In some locations, cage-based aquaculture has resulted in the clustering of large quantities of cages in fish farms located in inland lakes or reservoirs and coastal embayments or fjords, significantly affecting flow and mass transport in the surrounding waters. Existing studies have...
Article
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While marine aquaculture, or mariculture, has been growing rapidly and globally in recent decades, many environmental concerns remain to be fully addressed to achieve its long-term goal of sustainable development. This paper aims to provide a synthesized perspective on these issues by reviewing and discussing the characterization, transport, and cu...
Conference Paper
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Results are presented showing direct comparisons between physical laboratory experiments and lab-scale numerical simulations using the Bergen Ocean Model (BOM), a three-dimensional general ocean circulation model (https://org.uib.no/bom), of stratified exchange flow and saline intrusion blockage across an idealized, submerged sill. The experiments...
Conference Paper
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The dynamics of bottom gravity currents in a laboratory-scale, stratified-flow flume is modelled using a 3D CFD tool. Also, the dense-water intrusion along a channel with a trapezoidal cross-section is characterized hydraulically. The numerical experiments are designed to aid qualitative interpretation of the formation of density-driven, bi-directi...
Conference Paper
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Results are presented from the current experimental campaign which aims to observe the character of supercritical turbidity currents and other supercritical sediment gravity flows (SGFs) as they respond to morphological transition zones e.g. slope breaks and losses of lateral confinement. This experimental setup aims to reproduce lower slope, chann...
Conference Paper
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Laboratory experiments on uni and bi-directional exchange flows have been conducted at the CNRS Coriolis Rotating Platform at LEGI. Both rotating and non-rotating experiments were performed in a trapezoidal cross section channel and different configurations were considered by varying both the upper fresh water volume fluxes and the channel rotation...
Conference Paper
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Results are presented from the current experimental campaign which aims to observe the character of supercritical turbidity currents and other supercritical sediment gravity flows (SGFs) as they respond to morphological transition zones, e.g. slope breaks and losses of lateral confinement. This experimental setup aims to reproduce lower slope, chan...
Conference Paper
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Sediment Gravity Flows (SGFs) are the principal agent for the transportation of sediments that are initially stored on the shelf and eventually enter into the deeper parts of sedimentary basins. The most common downslope transportation pathway-and arguably the most important-occurs as a result of gravity acting on a relatively dense sediment-water...
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This paper presents the numerical simulation of single, circular, turbulent, thermal jets discharged into an ambient fluid body with a uniform cross flow. The study utilizes a 3D hydrodynamic model to predict the dynamics of the evolving jets, with the model simulations calibrated against benchmark laboratory experimental datasets. Within the numer...
Article
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Flume experiments are conducted to investigate the intrinsic links between time-varying bed load transport properties for uniform sediments and bed surface morphology under unsteady hydrograph flows, in the absence of upstream sediment supply. These conditions are representative of regulated river reaches (e.g. downstream of a dam) that are subject...
Conference Paper
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An experimental study has been conducted at the CNRS Coriolis Rotating Platform at LEGI, Grenoble, in a trapezoidal cross section channel, to investigate uni and bi-directional exchange flows. Both rotating and non rotating experiments, with a non-erodible and erodible bed layer were considered. Experimental measurements focused on obtaining high-r...
Conference Paper
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Uni or bi-directional flows develop in submerged channels, such as sea straits and estuaries, when two water masses with different densities meet. Earth rotation can affect the flow dynamics by introducing a geostrophic adjustment of the internal fluid flow, with resulting cross channel variations in velocity and density profiles, and by inducing s...
Article
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Results are presented from a series of large-scale experiments investigating the internal and near-bed dynamics of bi-directional stratified flows with a net-barotropic component across a submerged, trapezoidal, sill obstruction. High-resolution velocity and density profiles are obtained in the vicinity of the obstruction to observe internal-flow d...
Article
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Results are presented from a combined experimental and numerical study aimed at comparing the flocculation behaviour of purely-cohesive (clay) and mixed (sand-clay) sediment suspensions under equivalent controlled hydrodynamic conditions. The experiments were conducted in a grid-stirred settling column and focussed on measuring the parametric influ...
Conference Paper
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In natural rivers, significant bedload transport and variability in sediment bed geomorphology is generally observed to occur under unsteady flows, especially during flood events. In this study, a double-peaked hydrograph event, consisting of two identical and consecutive flood waves (i.e. sub-hydrographs), was performed in a large titling flume to...
Conference Paper
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Results are presented from a series of large-scale experiments investigating the internal dynamics of bi-directional exchange flows generated across a submerged, trapezoidal, sill obstruction, with net-barotropic flow components in the upper fresh or lower saline water layers. High-resolution velocity fields and density profiles were obtained using...
Article
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It is my pleasure to welcome you to the April issue of Water Management, which brings together four interesting research papers on the diverse, but interconnected, topics of extreme rainfall, flood routing, reservoir floodgate operation and riverbank collapse mechanisms. The paper of Yilmaz (2017) investigates stationarity and non-stationarity in e...
Article
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Soil erosion and deposition mechanisms play a crucial role in the sustainability of both existing reservoirs and newly planned projects. Soil erosion is one of the most important factors influencing sediment transport yields, and, in the context of existing reservoirs, the surrounding watersheds supply both runoff and sediment yield to the receivin...
Conference Paper
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Preliminary analysis of a series of large-scale experiments investigating bi-directional stratified flows across a submerged trapezoidal sill obstruction is presented. A range of parametric forcing conditions: i) variable fresh-and saltwater flow rates; ii) density differences; and iii) sill submergence depths are used to generate net-barotropic ex...
Conference Paper
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Improvements to current deterministic sediment transport prediction methods requires enhanced understanding of the changes in near-bed turbulent flow characteristics occurring during the unsteady hydrograph flow conditions, under which sediment transport is most likely to occur. This paper investigates specifically at relative influence of mobile a...
Article
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Estuaries and tidal inlets are often characterised by the presence of both cohesive and non-cohesive sediments. Knowledge of the sedimentation behaviour of sand-mud mixtures is therefore crucial to the understanding and prediction of the time-dependent structure (i.e. mixed or segregated), composition and erodibility of sediment bed deposits develo...
Conference Paper
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Flumes offer the ability to study Ag NM removal and persistence behaviour in controlled and potentially ‘environmentally relevant’ scenarios. Studying removal rates within flow systems may produce fate descriptors to translate processes into useful models which will help with exposure assessment in realistic conditions. The aim of this research was...
Conference Paper
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Many estuaries and near-shore coastal regions have bed sediments consisting of mixtures of cohesive mud and non-cohesive sands. Whilst extensive studies have been conducted on transport processes associated with sand- or mud-only sediments, there remains limited knowledge on the physical behaviour of sand-mud mixtures in suspension. Due to importan...
Conference Paper
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Physical understanding of sedimentation processes in estuaries and nearshore coastal waters is economically important to port facility owners and operators requiring maintenance of navigable depths, and environmentally significant to those bodies charged with maintaining and enhancing these sensitive ecosystems. It is therefore essential that engin...
Article
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Natural fluvial channels can experience significant variations in sediment transport rates under unsteady flow conditions, especially during flood hydrograph events. At present, however, there is a distinct lack of understanding of the interaction between unsteady hydrograph flow properties and temporal variability in graded sediment transport rate...
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Conference Paper
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Results are presented from a series of parametric experiments investigating the time-dependent flocculation characteristics for sand-mud suspensions under stationary, nearly-isotropic, grid-generated turbulence. The experimental runs were conducted in a sophisticated 2.1 m by 0.25 m diameter settling column, incorporating a fixed array of oscillati...
Conference Paper
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Results are presented from a series of experiments investigating the internal and near-bed dynamics of restricted net exchange flows across a submerged sill obstruction. Experimental measurements focused on obtaining high-resolution velocity and density profiles in the vicinity of the obstruction to observe and quantify both interfacial mixing and...
Conference Paper
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Fluvial channels can experience significant variations to both sediment transport rates and deformations in channel morphology under unsteady flow conditions, especially during flood hydrograph events. Within the current study, a series of parametric experiments was conducted to investigate the response of both quasi-uniform (sand) and graded (sand...
Conference Paper
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Experiments are performed within a specially constructed rectangular channel sited within the newly built large diameter Coriolis Rotating Platform II at LEGI Grenoble. Both rigid and erodible obstructions, having idealized trapezoidal cross-section with smoothed edges, are considered. Experimental measurements focus on obtaining high-resolution ve...
Conference Paper
Given the widespread use of silver nanoparticles (Ag NP), their release, whether accidental or intentional, into the environment is inevitable. At this point, Ag NPs threat to freshwater ecosystems is unclear. Current research shows NP toxicity is affected by water chemistry, the presence of organic matter, sediments and other possible influences,...
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Conference Paper
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Estuaries and nearshore coastal areas are amongst the most productive, dynamic and complex ecosystems in the world. Many of these estuaries and sheltered inshore waters (e.g. tidal inlets and embayments) have bed sediments consisting of mixtures of cohesive mud and non-cohesive sands. Whilst extensive studies have been conducted on transport proces...
Article
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Detailed velocity and density measurements are used to investigate dense water dynamics in an inclined, silled channel of triangular cross-section with varying side slope α and adverse bed slope φ. For the steeper channel configuration considered (φ=3.6°), the dense-water bottom current is shown to be frictionally-controlled, with an internal flow...
Article
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The overflow of dense water from the Nordic Seas through the Faroese Channel system was investigated through combined laboratory experiments and numerical simulations using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology General Circulation Model. In the experimental study, a scaled, topographic representation of the Faroe-Shetland Channel, Wyville-Thoms...
Article
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Results are presented from a series of parametric experimental and analytical studies of the behaviour of dense gravity currents along rotating, up-sloping, wedge-shaped channels. High resolution density profile measurements at fixed cross- and along-channel locations reveal the outflowing bottom gravity currents to adjust to quasi-steady, geostrop...
Conference Paper
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The study models aspects of the outflow of dense water from the Nordic Seas to the North Atlantic. In the Eastern section of the Greenland-Scotland Ridge (GSR), field observations show that most of the outflow water entering the Wyville Thomson Basin (WTB) from the Faroe Shetland Channel (FSC) enters the North Atlantic via the Faroe Bank Channel (F...
Conference Paper
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Results are presented from combined physical and numerical model simulations of topographically-constrained deep-water overflows within the Faroese Channels. A detailed topographic model of the Wyville-Thomson Basin/Ridge and Faroe Bank Channel region was constructed and mounted within a rotating tank, allowing a series of parametric experiments to...
Conference Paper
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Dense bottom currents in the upward-sloping, converging triangular channel are experimentally investigated. High-resolution velocity and density profiles are used to analyze the changes of interface shape and mixing process for different saltwater inflow rates and bottom slopes. The stratified flow dynamics of the convectively accelerating dense wa...
Conference Paper
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Dense bottom currents in the upward-sloping, converging triangular channel are experimentally investigated. High-resolution velocity and density profiles are used to analyze the changes of interface shape and mixing process for different saltwater inflow rates and bottom slopes. The stratified flow dynamics of the convectively accelerating dense wa...
Conference Paper
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Results are presented from a series of parametric experimental and analytical studies of the behaviour of dense gravity currents along upward-sloping, rotating, vee-shaped channels. High resolution density profile measurements demonstrate that the outflowing bottom gravity currents tend to adjust to quasi-steady, geostrophic conditions along the ch...
Conference Paper
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Measurements of dense bottom water flows are analysed in an upward-sloping, converging triangular channel. The internal flow structure is characterized, for two different bottom slope cases (denoted as Weir and Sill), by measurement of high-resolution velocity and density profiles. The stratified flow dynamics of the convectively accelerating dense...
Conference Paper
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Laboratory experiments are described in which the merging of round, inclined, turbulent, negatively-buoyant jets has been investigated for stationary ambient receiving waters and uniform cross flows. The trajectories of the jets has been investigated parametrically for varying source Froude number Fr 0 , source separation ℓ, jet angle θ and velocit...
Article
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Results are presented from a series of laboratory modelling experiments on dense oceanic outflows, in which the behaviour of dense bottom gravity currents in an inclined, submerged, rotating and convergent vee-shaped channel has been investigated. High-resolution density and velocity profile measurements are presented to demonstrate that the curren...
Article
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Results are presented from laboratory model investigations into the processes governing the retention of therapeutant added to skirted fish cages during treatment for sea lice infection. The results demonstrate the importance of turbulent entrainment and shear at the edges of the skirt in reducing the concentration of therapeutant within the cage....
Conference Paper
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Results are presented from a series of laboratory experiments aimed at investigating the flocculation and settling characteristics of both purely cohesive and mixed cohesive/non-cohesive sediment suspensions. These experiments were conducted in a purpose-build oscillating-grid settling column, designed to provide controlled and realistic hydrodynam...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Results are presented from laboratory modelling experiments investigating the behaviour of dense bottom gravity currents in an inclined, submerged, rotating and convergent vee-shaped channel. High-resolution density and velocity profile measurements demonstrate that these bottom currents adjust to geostrophic balance in the converging channel for a...
Conference Paper
Full-text available