Two-Dimensional Depth-Averaged Flow Modeling with an Unstructured Hybrid Mesh
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 1
Abstract
An unstructured hybrid mesh numerical method is developed to simulate open channel flows. The method is applicable to arbitrarily shaped mesh cells and offers a framework to unify many mesh topologies into a single formulation. A finite-volume discretization is applied to the two-dimensional depth-averaged equations such that mass conservation is satisfied both locally and globally. An automatic wetting-drying procedure is incorporated in conjunction with a segregated solution procedure that chooses the water surface elevation as the main variable. The method is applicable to both steady and unsteady flows and covers the entire flow range: subcritical, transcritical, and supercritical. The proposed numerical method is well suited to natural river flows with a combination of main channels, side channels, bars, floodplains, and in-stream structures. Technical details of the method are presented, verification studies are performed using a number of simple flows, and a practical natural river is modeled to illustrate issues of calibration and validation.
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Acknowledgments
The writer acknowledges the peer review by Blair Greimann and Rob Hilldale at the Technical Service Center of the Bureau of Reclamation. The work was partially supported by the Bureau of Reclamation Science and Technology Program (Project No. UNSPECIFIEDX0092).
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 136 • Issue 1 • January 2010
Pages: 12 - 23
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 24, 2007
Accepted: Jul 7, 2009
Published online: Jul 13, 2009
Published in print: Jan 2010
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