Dam-Break Flow in the Presence of Obstacle: Experiment and CFD Simulation

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present an experimental and numerical investigation of dam-break flow over initially dry bed with a bottom obstacle. This test case highlights not only the bottom slope effects but also those of abrupt change in channel topography. Dam-break flow was applied in a smooth prismatic channel of rectangular cross-section over a trapezoidal bottom sill on the downstream bed. The present study scrutinized the formation and propagation of negative bore behind the sill. The flow was numerically simulated by the VOF-based commercially available CFD program, Flow-3D, solving the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes equations with the k-ε turbulence model (RANS) and the Shallow Water Equations (SWE). To validate CFD models an experiment was carried out. Using an advanced measuring technique, digital image processing, the flow was recorded simply through the glass walls of channel; thus, continuous free surface profiles were acquired synchronously with three cameras along the channel. The adopted measuring technique is non-intrusive and yields accurate and valuable results without flow disturbances. Comparison of the computed results with experimental data shows that RANS model reproduces the flow under investigation with reasonable accuracy while simple SWE model indicates some discrepancies particularly in predicting the negative wave propagation.