Smooth and Stepped Spillway Modeling Using the SPH Method
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 146, Issue 8
Abstract
The smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method was used to simulate the flow over smooth and stepped spillways in the nonaerated, skimming flow regime. Two-dimensional numerical simulations were carried out using the DualSPHysics software and compared with experimental data on a 2H:1V sloping spillway for smooth and stepped inverts. Continuous inflow fluid layers with constant height and uniform velocity were used to establish the flow rate on the broad crested weir. The ability of the SPH to reproduce the main flow characteristics was analyzed by comparing the numerical flow depths and velocity profiles with their experimental counterparts. Firstly, a convergence analysis was carried out for various initial particle spacing. The flow characteristics along the stepped spillway were more sensitive to the particle spacing compared to the smooth chute one. In general, the numerical flow depths compared well with the corresponding experimental data and with empirical formulas available in the literature. The velocity profiles, and the free-stream velocity in particular, were also well reproduced by the SPH method; however, larger differences were obtained near the solid boundary.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available in a repository online in accordance with funder data retention policies (www.dual.sphysics.org).
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request (experimental and numerical flow depths and velocities).
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the support of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), through the RECI/ECM-HID/0371/2012 Project, and Prof. Rui Ferreira in particular, for providing the computational server to run the simulations. Thanks also are extended to Luís Palma Mendes for his assistance. The first author acknowledges the scholarships from the Capes, CNPq and Erasmus Mundus-Smart2 Project. The third author acknowledges CNPq Project 307105/2015-6.
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Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 146 • Issue 8 • August 2020
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©2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Mar 7, 2019
Accepted: Feb 5, 2020
Published online: May 26, 2020
Published in print: Aug 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Oct 26, 2020
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