Simulation-Based Approach for Stream Restoration Structure Design: Model Development and Validation
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 9
Abstract
We develop, validate, and demonstrate the potential of Virtual StreamLab (VSL3D), a novel three-dimensional hydromorphodynamics computational model capable of simulating turbulent flow and sediment transport in natural waterways with embedded and arbitrarily complex hydraulic structures under live-bed conditions. The numerical model is based on the curvilinear immersed boundary (CURVIB) approach and can solve the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) equations closed with the turbulence model in arbitrarily complex waterways with mobile sediment beds. Bed material transport is simulated by solving the nonequilibrium Exner equation for the bed surface elevation coupled with a transport equation for suspended load. Field-scale measurements obtained from experiments carried out in the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory Outdoor StreamLab are employed to validate the predictive capabilities of the numerical model. The VSL3D is used to develop a virtual testing environment of unprecedented resolution and physical realism for designing and optimizing the arrangements and installation of stream restoration rock structures. To our knowledge, the present work is the first systematic attempt to employ unsteady, three-dimensional, hydro-morphodynamics numerical modeling coupled with high-performance computing to develop an engineering framework for designing hydraulic structures for stream restoration applications.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by NSF Grants EAR-0120914 (as part of the National Center for Earth-Surface Dynamics) and EAR-0738726 and National Cooperative Highway Research Program Grant NCHRP-HR 24-33. Computational resources were provided by the University of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 9 • September 2014
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 19, 2013
Accepted: Mar 14, 2014
Published online: May 29, 2014
Published in print: Sep 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Oct 29, 2014
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