Numerical modeling of Reynolds scale effects for filling/emptying system of Panama Canal locks

Abstract

Significant scale effects have been detected on the filling/emptying time measured with a reduced-scale physical model of the Third Set of Locks of the Panama Canal. During the design phase, corrections were made to compensate for these effects. However, the measurements at the prototype scale indicated that the corrections were insufficient because they only accounted for the differences in skin friction. In this study, a general methodology was proposed to evaluate scale effects using three-dimensional numerical models. This methodology was validated and then applied to a portion of the filling/emptying system of the Panama Canal to quantify its scale effects. The results showed that this technique can consider all sources of scale effects that affect head losses, such as skin friction and flow separation, and thereby correctly simulate the filling/emptying time at the prototype scale. The proposed methodology for scale effect quantification can be used to correct the results of physical models, and it can be expected to improve estimation of the performance of prototypes.