A Three-Dimensional Numerical Model for Flow in a Lock Filling System

The hydraulic performance of a navigation lock is difficult to evaluate because the unsteady flow is characterized by large variations in pressure and velocity. The lock system contains the interactions of free-surface and pressurized conduit flow. Currently, the filling and emptying system design must be carefully evaluated in a physical model which generally is expensive in terms of both time and money. A numerical model capable of simulating the flow in a navigation lock can provide an economical tool for detailed evaluation of lock systems and components. A flow model of a lock filling and emptying system must be capable of simulating the large- and small-scale flow features found in internal (conduit) flow and free-surface flow within the lock approach and chamber. This paper describes the development of a complete three-dimensional (3-D) model of a sidewall port lock filling system. The Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations are used to describe the 3-D flow. The equations are discretized using the Galerkin Least-Squares finite element algorithm on tetrahedral elements with sizes varying over several orders of magnitude. The water-surface location is determined using a moving mesh method. The code is parallelized using Message Passing Interface (MPI) and is capable of adapting the mesh during flow calculations based on error estimations.