Experiments of Three-Dimensional Flow Structure in Braided Rivers

Abstract

The braided river is a typical river pattern in nature, but there is a paucity of comprehensive data set describing the three-dimensional flow field in the braided river. A physical model experiment was used to study the flow characteristics in the typical braided river with a mid-bar between two anabranches. In the experiment, two kinds of mid-bar with the ratios of its length to maximal width of 3 and 5 were considered. Moreover, the mid-bar could be moved to adjust the width of two anabranches. The detailed measurements of velocity were conducted using an acoustic Doppler velocimeter over a grid defined throughout the whole braided river region, including the bifurcation, two anabranches and the confluence. In two kinds of mid-bar braided models, a separation zone was observed in the anabranch of the model in which the ratio of length to maximal width of mid-bar is 3, however the separation zone was not found in another model in which the ratio is 5. In addition, the opposite secondary cells were observed at the bend apex of anabranch in two models, and different longitudinal velocity distributions in the entrance region of anabranch account for this opposite flow structure. Finally, turbulent kinetic energy were shown and compared in different situations. The high turbulence occurs at the place with strong shear, especially at the boundary of the separation zone and the high velocity passing flow.