3D numerical simulation of partial breach dam-break flow using the LES and k–ϵ turbulence models

Abstract

The shallow water equations, also known as the Saint Venant equations, are commonly used to simulate transient free-surface flows including dam-break and levee-breach flows. However, these solutions give inaccurate results in the near-field of dam-break flow. In this paper, 3D numerical simulations of dam-break flow are done using the large eddy simulation (LES) and the k–ϵ turbulence models with tracking of the free surface by the volume-of-fluid model. A computational fluid dynamics solver is utilized for this. Results are compared with published experimental data on dam-break flow through a partial breach as well as with results obtained by others using a shallow water model. The results show that both the LES and the k–ϵ modelling satisfactorily reproduce the temporal variation of the measured bottom pressure. However, the LES model captures better the free surface and velocity variation with time.