Numerical Study on Resistance to Flow in Meandering Channels
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 148, Issue 2
Abstract
Focusing on the effect of the meandering planform, two functions are investigated by a numerical experiment: the first represents the ratio between the intensities of the resisting forces acting on a meandering flow and its corresponding straight flow; and the second represents the ratio between the intensities of the resisted meandering flow itself and its corresponding straight flow. Both functions depend on the sinuosity (or relative curvature) and the width-to-depth ratio. The two functions and their numerical results are thoroughly analyzed, showing the following: (1) meandering causes an increase in the resistance to flow, with a greater resistance occurring in the stream having an “intermediate” sinuosity (or “large” relative curvature) and a “small” width-to-depth ratio; (2) there is an imbalance between the driving and resisting forces in a meandering stream, and the degree of this imbalance has a direct interrelation with the intensity of the “kinetic-energy-weighted” convergence of flow; and (3) the ratio of kinetic to potential energy of a meandering flow cannot be reflected by the square of the (Chézy) resistance factor alone, and the two things manifest different variation patterns versus the sinuosity and the width-to-depth ratio. These findings are likely to advance the understanding of the resistance to flow in meandering channels.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and codes generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China under Grant No. 2016YFC0402501; the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under Grant No. 51479071; the “111” Project under Grant Nos. B17015 and B12032; and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions under Grant No. 3014-SYS1401.
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Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 148 • Issue 2 • February 2022
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 27, 2020
Accepted: Jul 29, 2021
Published online: Dec 8, 2021
Published in print: Feb 1, 2022
Discussion open until: May 8, 2022
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