Numerical Simulation of Flushing of Trapped Salt Water from a Bar-Blocked Estuary
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 11
Abstract
Results of a numerical simulation investigating the complicated flushing process of an isolated trapped volume of salt water from a bar-blocked estuary are presented. A multiphase model, a part of the commercial code FLUENT 6.2, is applied. The governing equations together with initial and boundary conditions and the numerical scheme are described. The time-dependent salt-wedge position, vertical-density distribution, and proportion of total input kinetic energy converted into potential energy are examined for various incoming flow densimetric Froude number and estuary bed slope. The vertical position and thickness of the interfacial mixed layer between freshwater and salt water as well as the local gradient Richardson number are determined from simulated density profiles and velocity fields. The good agreement between the simulated and measured results indicates that the numerical model can be successfully applied to investigate the complex flushing process involving stratified flow.
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Acknowledgments
The research presented here is supported by the National Basic Research Program of China under Grant No. UNSPECIFIED2005CB724202, National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. NNSFC50579025) and University of Aberdeen. The writers thank Professor Peter Davies at University of Dundee for providing the laboratory experimental results. The comments provided by the anonymous reviewers and the Associate Editor have significantly improved the quality of the final version.
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Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 11 • November 2008
Pages: 1671 - 1676
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Apr 26, 2007
Accepted: Mar 3, 2008
Published online: Nov 1, 2008
Published in print: Nov 2008
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