Particle image velocimetry and numerical simulations of the hydrodynamic characteristics of an artificial reef

Abstract

This article reports a particle image velocimetry study and the comparative results of a numerical simulation into the hydrodynamic characteristics around an artificial reef. We reveal the process of flow separation and vortex evolution, and compare the force terms generated by our artificial reef model. The numerical simulation agrees well with experimental results, showing the applicability of computational fluid dynamics to the hydrodynamics of an artificial reef. Furthermore, we numerically simulate the hydrodynamics of the reef model for seven velocities. The results show that the drag coefficient is approximately 1.21 in a self-modeling region for Reynolds numbers between 2.123×104 and 9×104. Therefore, the upwelling height and current width of the flow field do not change significantly when the inflow velocity increases. Our study indicates that computational fluid dynamics can be applied to study the hydrodynamics of an artificial reef and offer clues to its construction.