Impact pressure of dam-break waves on a vertical wall with various downstream conditions by an explicit mesh-free method

Abstract

This study employs an explicit mesh-free numerical scheme to simulate dam-break waves impacting on a rigid vertical wall. In the method, the pressure Poisson equation is solved explicitly by an established equation between the pressure and the known parameters. The numerical scheme is validated by simulating a dam-break wave impacting a solid wall and the simulated impact pressure at the monitoring points has a good agreement with the experimental measurements. After model validation, the numerical method is applied to simulate a dam-break wave impacting a solid wall after propagating various downstream wet beds with different water depths. The impact pressure on the wall is monitored and the pressure history during the dam-break wave propagation is analyzed and discussed. The impact pressure for different dam-break waves caused by different upstream water depths is then investigated. The impact pressure at the monitoring points is illustrated to show the pressure variations. In the simulations, the pressure field is observed to be smooth by using the explicit numerical scheme. It is also found that the downstream wet bed condition and the upstream initial water depth to trigger the dam-break wave play important roles in the maximum impact pressure on the rigid wall.