Transcritical Flows in Three and Four Branch Open-Channel Intersections
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 4
Abstract
Transcritical flows in three and four branch channel intersections have been studied experimentally, and an empirical relationship is derived from the data to express the flow distribution as a function of the Froude number of the flow in the main channel downstream of the intersection, and in the case of the four-branch intersection, the ratio of the incoming flows in the two inlet channels. The empirical relationship agrees closely with the data from this study, and with data from other studies in comparable conditions. The results illustrate an important point which has been overlooked in some previous studies—the existence of a critical section in the lateral outflow channel is not sufficient to isolate flow in the intersection from the downstream control in the lateral channel. It is shown that if drowned flow occurs in the lateral channel, then the downstream control can affect the flow in the intersection.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The research was funded by the French CNRS (SPI-ACI jeune chercheur Hydraulique en milieu urbain, 2002; INSU: ECCO-PNRH 2003, project no31) and the French ANR ( project, grant ANR-05-ECCO-016; RIVES Project, grant ANR-05-PGCU-004). The authors are grateful to Pr. A.S. Ramamurthy, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada for fruitful discussions about experimental conditions. The authors are also indebted to C. Florio for her assistance with the preliminary experiments and to P. Dutheil, L. Kaci and A. Zelez for their technical support.
References
Barkdoll, B. B., Hagen, B. L., and Odgaard, A. J. (1998). “Experimental comparison of dividing open-channel with duct flow in T-Junction.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 92–95.
Calenda, G., Calvani, L., and Mancini, C. P. (2003). “Simulation of the great flood of December 1870 in Rome.” Water Marit. Eng., 156(4), 305–312.
Chanson, H. (1999). The hydraulics of open channel flows, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, U.K.
El Kadi Abderrezzak, K., Lewicki, L., Paquier, A., Riviere, N., and Travin, G. (2011). “Division of critical flow at three-branch open-channel intersections.” J. Hydraul. Res., 49(2), 231–238.
El Kadi Abderrezzak, K., Paquier, A., and Mignot, E. (2009). “Modelling flash flood propagation in urban areas using a two-dimensional numerical model.” Nat. Hazards, 50(3), 433–460.
Florio, C. (2008). “Fonction de transfert en débit d’un croisement de rues.” M. Eng. thesis, INSA, Lyon, France (in French).
Ghostine, R., Kesserwany, G., Vazquez, J., Rivière, N., Ghenaim, A., and Mose, R. (2009). “Simulation of supercritical flow in crossroads: Confrontation of a 2D and 3D numerical approaches to experimental results.” Comput. Fluids, 38(2), 425–432.
Gurram, S. K., Karki, K. S., and Hager, W. H. (1997). “Subcritical junction flow.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 447–455.
Hager, W. H. (1989). “Transitional flow in channel junctions.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 243–259.
Hager, W. H. (1995). Wastewater hydraulics, Springer, Heidelberg, Germany.
Haider, S., Paquier, A., Morel, R., and Champagne, J.-Y. (2003). “Urban flood modeling using computational fluid dynamics.” Water Marit. Eng., 156(2), 129–135.
Hsu, C. H., Tang, C. J., Lee, W.-J., and Shieh, M. Y. (2002). “Subcritical 90° equal-width open-channel dividing flow.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 716–720.
Inoue, K., Kawaike, K., and Hayashi, H. (2000). “Numerical simulation models of inundation flow in urban area.” J. Hydrosci. Hydraul. Eng., 18(1), 119–126.
Kesserwani, G., et al. (2010). “New approach for predicting flow bifurcation at right-angled open-channel junction.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 662–668.
Khan, A. A., Cadavid, R., and Wang, S. S.-Y. (2000). “Simulation of channel confluence and bifurcation using CCHE2D model.” J. Water Marit. Energy, 142(2), 97–102.
Krishnappa, G., and Seetharamiah, J. (1963). “A new method of predicting the flow in a 90° branch channel.” La Houille Blanche, 7(7), 775–778.
Kumar, S. G. (1993). “Transitional flow in channel junctions.” J. Hydraul. Res., 31(5), 601–604.
Lakshmana Rao, N. S., and Sridharan, K. (1967). “Division of flow in open channels.” Irrig. Power J., 24(4), 393–407.
Lakshmana Rao, N. S., Sridharan, K., and Yahia Ali Baig, M. (1968). “Experimental study of the division of flow in an open channel.” Proc., 3rd Australasian Conf. on Hydraulics and Fluid Mechanics, Sydney, Australia, 139–142.
Law, S. W., and Reynolds A. J. (1966). “Dividing flow in open channel.” J. Hydraul. Div., 92(HY2), 207–231.
Lewicki, L., Paquier, A., El-Kadi Abderrezzak, K., and Rivière, N. (2010). “Uncertainty in hydraulic modeling: A case study of an experiment in transcritical flow.” Can. J. Civ. Eng., 37(7), 1014–1023.
Li, C. W., and Zeng, C. (2010). “Flow division at a channel crossing with subcritical or supercritical flow.” Int. J. Numerical Methods Fluid, 62(1), 56–73.
Lipeme-Kouyi, G., Rivière, N., Vidalat, V., Becquet, A., Chocat B., and Guinot, V. (2010). “Urban flooding: 1D modelling of the distribution of the discharges through cross-road intersections accounting for energy losses.” Water Sci. Technol., 61(8), 2021–2028.
Mignot, E., Paquier, A., and Haider, S. (2006). “Modelling floods in a dense urban area using 2D shallow water equations.” J. Hydrol., 327(1–2), 186–199.
Mignot, E., Paquier, A., and Riviere, N. (2008b). “2D Numerical study of a symmetrical 4-branches supercritical cross junction.” J. Hydraul. Res., 46(6), 723–738.
Mignot, E., Paquier, A., and Riviere, N. (2010). “Closure to the discussion of “Experimental and numerical modelling of symmetrical four-branch supercritical cross junction flow” by L. Nania et al. 2009.” J. Hydraul. Res., 46(6), 723–738.
Mignot, E., Riviere, N., Paquier, A., and Perkins, R. J. (2011). “Hydraulic models of the flow distribution in a four open channels junction with supercritical flow.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 289–299.
Mignot, E., Riviere, N., Perkins, R. J., and Paquier, A. (2008a). “Flow patterns in a four branches junction with supercritical flow.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 701–713.
Mignot, E., Riviere, N., Perkins, R. J., Paquier, A., and Travin, G. (2009). “Closure to the discussion of “Flow patterns in a four-branch junction with supercritical flow” by L. Nania et al. 2009.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 1023–1024.
Mignot, E., Zeng, C., Dominguez, G., Li, C.-W., Rivière, N., and Bazin, P.-H. (2013). “Impact of singularities on the discharge distribution in open-channel bifurcations.” J. Hydrol., 494(28), 10–19.
Nania, L. S., Gomez, M., and Dolz, J. (2004). “Experimental study of the dividing flow in steep street crossings.” J. Hydraul. Res., 42(4), 406–412.
Nania, L. S., Gomez, M., Dolz, J., Comas, P., and Pomares, J. (2011). “Experimental study of subcritical dividing flow in an equal-width, four-branch junction.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 1298–1305.
Neary, V. S., and Odgaard, A. J. (1993). “Three-dimensional flow structure at open-channel diversions.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 1223–1230.
Neary, V. S., Sotiropoulos, F., and Odgaard, A. J. (1999). “Three-dimensional numerical model of lateral-intake inflows.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 126–140.
Ramamurthy, A. S., and Satish, M. G. (1988). “Division of flow in short open channel branches.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 428–438.
Ramamurthy, A. S., Tran, D. M., and Carballada, L. B. (1990). “Dividing flow in open channels.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 449–455.
Ramamurthy, A. S., Zhu, W., and Carballada, L. B. (1996). “Dividing rectangular closed conduit flows.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 687–691.
Riviere, N., Perkins, R. J., Chocat, B., and Lecus, A. (2006). “Flooding flows in city crossroads: 1D modelling and prediction.” Water Sci. Technol., 54(6–7), 75–82.
Riviere, N., Travin, G., and Perkins, R. J. (2011). “Subcritical open channel flows in four branch intersections.” Water Resour. Res., 47(10), W10517.
Riviere, N., Travin, G., and Perkins, R. J. (2013). “Discussion of “Experimental study of subcritical dividing flow in an equal-width, four-branch junction” by L. S. Nania, M. Gómez, J. Dolz, P. Comas and J. Pomares, 2011.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 96–98.
Shettar, A. S., and Murthy, K. K. (1996). “A numerical study of division of flow in open channels.” J. Hydraul. Res., 34(5), 651–675.
Taylor, E. H. (1944). “Flow characteristics at rectangular open-channel junctions.” ASCE Trans., 109, 893–902.
Webber, N. B., and Greated, C. A. (1966). “An investigation of flow behaviour at the junction of rectangular channels.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng., 34(3), 321–334.
Weber, L. J., Schumate, E. D., and Mawer, N. (2001). “Experiments on flow at a 90° open-channel junction.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 340–350.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 4 • April 2014
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 29, 2012
Accepted: Oct 30, 2013
Published online: Nov 4, 2013
Published in print: Apr 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Jul 3, 2014
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.