Numerical simulation and experimental validation of the air-water flow in a Hydraulic Test Bench

Abstract

<p>Air-water flow interfaces around and over most hydraulic structures are complex, yet of crucial importance for safeguarding society and the resilience of the built environment. In this context, the present research work reports a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methodology to accurately predict the complex air-water flow in a large-scale hydraulic test bench. It focuses on the potential of the volume of fluid (VOF) model to predict the free water surface evolution. The simulations were performed using the commercial software ANSYS Fluent 17.0, which utilized a three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations in the unsteady flow regime. The Standard k-ɛ turbulence model was used, and the finite volume method was considered. The numerical uncertainty was quantified by the grid convergence index (GCI) method. The numerical results were found to be in excellent agreement with the experimental data.</p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong> CFD, Turbulent Flows, Air-water flows, Hydraulic test bench.</p>