Numerical Model for Convective Flow in Meandering Channels with Various Sinuosities
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 11
Abstract
The flow in every meandering channel with a specific sinuosity has its own convective pattern. However, most of the previous numerical works did not take this nature as an essential aspect when validating their computed flows, and even some typical works turned out to fail to capture the correct convective patterns of meandering flows. In this paper, a numerical model is established on the basis of the three-dimensional continuity and Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations and used to simulate two representative laboratory tests where the channels had different sinuosities and the flows manifested different convective patterns. The agreement between the computed and measured flow characteristics for both tests demonstrates that the present model can capture the correct convective patterns of meandering flows for various sinuosities. The reasons are inferred as the use of the turbulence model to determine the eddy viscosity throughout almost the whole flow depth and the use of the antisymmetrically identical condition at the inlet and outlet boundaries of a meander loop.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available in a repository or online in accordance with funder data retention policies (Zhang 2020).
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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Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 147 • Issue 11 • November 2021
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Aug 21, 2020
Accepted: Apr 17, 2021
Published online: Aug 18, 2021
Published in print: Nov 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Jan 18, 2022
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