Journal of Hydraulic Engineering

Bottom racks made by longitudinal bars are hydraulic structures widely adopted for engineering purposes. In the present paper we revisit the problem of their hydraulic design, analyzing the data obtained from a systematic series of experiments carried out in a laboratory flume. For each run we measured the diverted discharge, the water surface longitudinal profile, and using a two-dimensional backscatter laser Doppler anemometer, we measured the velocity field over the rack and in the slit between two adjacent bars. The latter measurements, in particular, allow us to obtain the along-rack distributions of the discharge coefficient to be used to determine the rate of change of the diverted discharge. We use such distributions to derive a physically based relationship relating the overall diverted discharge to the length of the rack, the void ratio, the discharge coefficient measured under static conditions, the specific head of the stream approaching the rack, and a modified Froude number. The robustness of the proposed relationship is confirmed by the comparison between the discharges calculated through the proposed relationship and those measured in an extensive series of experiments available in the literature, characterized by ranges of the relevant flow parameters much larger than those investigated in the present contribution.

The Yuen Long Bypass Floodway (YLBF) was designed to collect flows from the Sham Chung River (SCR) and the San Hui Nullah (SHN) and to serve as a diversion channel of the Yuen Long Main Nullah (YLMN). Under a 200-year return period design condition, the floodway was designed (1) to divert a flow of approximately $38{\mathrm{m}}^3∕\mathrm{s}$ from the supercritical YLMN flow and (2) to convey a total combined flow of $278{\mathrm{m}}^3∕\mathrm{s}$ to downstream within acceptable flood levels. The success of the design depends critically on complicated junction flow interactions that cannot be resolved by 1D unsteady flow models. These features include the supercritical-subcritical flow transition at the San Hui-Floodway (SHN-YLBF) junction and the diversion of part of the supercritical flow from the Main Nullah (YLMN). A laboratory Froude scale physical model was constructed to study water stages and flow characteristics in the floodway and to investigate optimal design arrangements at channel junctions and transitions. This paper summarizes the main features of the unique river junction network, in particular the use of the hydraulic jet principle at the SHN-YLBF junction to lower flood levels. In addition, a numerical flow model is employed to study flow details at the river junctions. The model is based on the general 2D shallow water equations in strong conservation form. The equations are discretized using the total variation diminishing finite-volume method which captures the discontinuity in hydraulic jumps. The numerical model predictions are well supported by the laboratory data, and the theoretical and experimental results offer useful insights for the design of urban flood control schemes under tight space constraints.

This paper investigates the drag exerted by randomly distributed, rigid, emergent circular cylinders of uniform diameter $d$ . Laboratory measurements are presented for solid volume fraction $\varphi =0.091$ , 0.15, 0.20, 0.27, and 0.35 and cylinder Reynolds number ${\mathit{Re}}_p\equiv U_{p}d∕\nu =25$ to 685, where $U_p$ =temporally and cross-sectionally averaged pore velocity and $\nu$ =kinematic viscosity. These ranges coincide with conditions in aquatic plant canopies. The temporally and cross-sectionally averaged drag coefficient, $C_D$ , decreased with increasing ${\mathit{Re}}_p$ and increased with increasing $\varphi$ under the flow conditions investigated. The dimensionless ratio of the mean drag per unit cylinder length $⟨\overline{f_D}{⟩}_H$ to the product of the viscosity, $\mu$ , and $U_p$ exhibits a linear ${\mathit{Re}}_p$ dependence of the form $⟨\overline{f_D}{⟩}_H∕\left(\mu U_p\right)={\alpha }_0+{\alpha }_1{\mathit{Re}}_p$ , consistent with Ergun’s formulation for packed columns. In the range of experimental conditions, ${\alpha }_1$ increases monotonically with $\varphi$ . In contrast, ${\alpha }_0$ is constant within uncertainty for $0.15⩽\varphi ⩽0.35$ , which suggests that viscous drag per unit cylinder length is independent of $\varphi$ in this range.

This paper presents a large eddy simulation (LES) of turbulent open channel flow over two-dimensional periodic dunes. The Reynolds number $\mathsf{R}$ based on the bulk velocity $U$ (bulk) and the maximum flow depth $h$ , is approximately 25,000. The instantaneous flow field is investigated with special emphasis on the occurrence of coherent structures. Instantaneous vortices were visualized and it is shown that separated vortices are formed downstream of the dune crest due to Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities. Near the point of reattachment the so-called kolk-boil vortex evolves in form of a hairpin vortex. Also present are previously separated vortices, which are convected along the stoss side of the downstream dune and elevated toward the water surface. The existence of near wall streaks which reform shortly after reattachment is also shown. The spacing between two low-speed streaks is very similar to that observed previously over smooth and rough walls. For validation, profiles of the time-averaged velocities, streamwise, and wall-normal turbulent intensities and the Reynolds shear stress calculated by the LES are presented and compared with available laser Doppler velocimetry measurements and overall good agreement is found.

The behavior of transients in water pipe networks is well understood but the influence of modulating control valves on this behavior is less well known. Experimental work on networks supplied through pressure reducing valves (PRVs) has demonstrated that, in certain conditions, undesirable phenomena such as sustained or slowly decaying oscillation and large pressure overshoot can occur. This paper presents results from modeling studies to investigate interaction between PRVs and water network transients. Transient pipe network models incorporating random demand are combined with a behavioral PRV model to demonstrate how the response of the system to changes in demand can produce large or persistent pressure variations, similar to those seen in practical experiments. A proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control mechanism, to replace the existing PRV hydraulic controller, is proposed and this alternative controller is shown to significantly improve the network response. PID controllers are commonly used in industrial settings and the methods described are easy to implement in practice.

The generic evaluation of pipeline parameters is one of the most demanding technological tasks in the efficient management of a water distribution system. Information about current pipeline status is feasible by monitoring the pressure variation online. Conventional methods of transient computation and parameter calibration for a heterogeneous pipeline network suffer from cost issues both in time and storage as well as several other constraints associated with the numerical representation of a real-life system. As an alternative approach, an extension of the impulse response method, namely the address-oriented impedance matrix method (AOIMM), has been developed for a more robust calibration of a heterogeneous and multilooped pipe network system. The genetic algorithm was incorporated into the AOIMM for generic calibration of several parameters, such as the location and quantity of leakage, friction factor, and wave propagation speed. The potential of the proposed calibration algorithm over other conventional approaches was demonstrated when it was applied to a hypothetical heterogeneous pipe network system.

A new technique is presented utilizing the frequency response for the detection of partial blockages in a pipeline. In the system frequency response, a partial blockage increases the amplitude of the pressure oscillations at even harmonics. Such an increase in amplitude has an oscillatory pattern, the frequency and amplitude of which may be used to predict the location and size of a partial blockage. In this technique, the pressure transient history at only one location is sufficient, and the history of the transient in the pipe prior to blockage is not needed, which is an advantage over a number of other available techniques, in addition to being simpler to use. It is shown that the technique successfully detects the location of a blockage in a number of simple systems with blockage size as small as 10%. The technique is verified by comparing the computed results with those computed by the method of characteristics and with measurements from simple laboratory setups. A number of practical issues and limitations for field implementations are discussed.

Scour downstream of ski jumps may be avoided by jet deflection to an area where the energy dissipation is accomplished. The main purpose of this experimental study was the analysis of the jet air entrainment downstream of a ski jump, both for pure water and preaerated approach flow conditions. A systematic variation of the Froude number and the flow depth in the approach flow channel resulted in a range of discharge characteristics, whereas the geometry of the ski jump was maintained for all tests. The air concentration profile was measured at different locations downstream from the ski jump to evaluate the: (1) jet air concentration distribution; (2) location of minimum air concentration along the mixture flow jet and development of the minimum and the cross-sectional average air concentrations; (3) jet trajectories; and (4) process of air entrainment characteristics and jet disintegration. The results demonstrate the significant effect of the approach flow Froude number, the approach flow depth, and of preaeration on jet disintegration.

A physical model study is conducted to investigate the flow field upstream of orifices. In particular, new experimental data for the upstream flow pattern resulting from multiple orifices, an orifice near a free surface, and a large orifice (where the pressure gradient across the orifice cannot be ignored) are collected and presented. A new potential flow solution for flow behind orifices is developed to include pressure gradient effects as well as to accurately superpose the solution due to multiple orifices and determine a solution close to orifices. The proposed solution compares well with the measured data for multiple orifices and for an orifice near a free surface. For a large orifice, the skew in the velocity profile in the vertical direction due to the pressure gradient is accurately predicted.

Results of an experimental study on clear-water scour at submerged cylindrical obstacles (circular cylinders) in uniform bed sediments under steady flow are presented. The scour depths at submerged circular cylinders are compared with the scour depths at corresponding unsubmerged cylinders (extended above the free surface of flow) of the same diameters under similar flow and bed sediment conditions. The scour depth decreases with an increase in submergence ratio. A submergence factor is introduced to determine the scour depth at a submerged cylinder from the information of the scour depth at an unsubmerged cylinder of the same diameter. In addition, the flow fields along the upstream vertical plane of symmetry of unsubmerged and submerged cylinders are presented through vector plots, which reveal that the dimension and strength of the horseshoe vortex decreases with an increase in submergence ratio. The horseshoe vortex circulations, which decrease with an increase in submergence ratio, are computed from the vorticity contours by using the Stokes theorem.

This work presents a simple tool to evaluate bed-load transport intensity and direction on arbitrarily sloping beds with local longitudinal and transversal inclinations up to $25°$ and in the case of uniform sediments and low values of the applied Shields stress. The tool is composed of a set of equations which fit the results obtained via an iterative procedure by the semiempirical model recently proposed in 2003 by Parker, Seminara, and Solari. The tool provides a fully nonlinear description of bed-load transport which overcomes the limitations of linear formulations developed in the case of negligible local bed inclinations. The proposed tool can be easily implemented in any morphodynamic model to describe the evolution of the bottom topography and to capture the dynamics of relevant sloping beds.

Sea water desalination plants discharge a concentrated brine effluent into coastal waters. Modern, large capacity plants require submerged discharges, in the form of a negatively buoyant jet, that ensure a high dilution in order to minimize harmful impacts on the marine environment. Existing design practice favors a steep discharge angle of 60° above horizontal, a practice based on limited and outdated laboratory data for dilutions at the level of maximum rise. Examination of more recent laboratory data and the parametric application of a jet integral model suggest that flatter discharge angles of about 30–45° above horizontal may have considerable design advantages. These relate to better dilution levels at the impingement location, especially if bottom slope and port height are taken into account, there is better offshore transport of the mixed effluent during weak ambient current conditions, and there is the ability to locate in more shallow water near shore.