Journal of Hydraulic Engineering

Measurements of water discharge and flow velocities in riverine and tidal environments are commonly made with acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) mounted on a moving boat. This paper presents results of high-resolution Large Eddy simulations (LES) conducted to investigate two elemental error sources in ADCP measurements from a moving boat. One of these errors is due to the flow disturbance induced by the boat-mounted ADCP. The other error is due to the lack of flow homogeneity in horizontal layers assumed by the ADCP algorithm to compute orthogonal velocities from the measured radial velocities along the acoustic beams. The first error is investigated by comparing LES results for an undisturbed flow field with LES results for a flow field disturbed by a boat-mounted ADCP. The second error is investigated by comparing the velocities beneath the ADCP simulated by LES with virtual ADCP velocities, which are obtained by applying the ADCP algorithm to LES velocities data mined along the path of the acoustic beams of the virtual profiler. The distribution of the Reynolds stresses beneath the ADCP estimated with the ADCP algorithm from the virtual ADCP velocity data are also compared with those obtained from the LES solutions for both the undisturbed and ADCP-disturbed flows. Results show that the boat significantly disturbs the flow field and that the disturbed flow field is qualitatively different from the flow fields observed around an isolated ADCP (no boat).

This paper uses results from detached eddy simulation to reveal the dynamics of large-scale coherent eddies in the flow around a circular pier with an equilibrium scour hole. This is important for the sediment transport because the local scour process is controlled to a large extent by the large-scale coherent structures present in the near-bed region. The present paper investigates the dynamics of these coherent structures, their interactions and their role in entraining sediment in the later stages of the scour process when the horseshoe vortex system is stabilized by the presence of a large scour hole. The pier Reynolds number was $2.06\times {10}^5$ , outside the range of well-resolved large-eddy simulation (LES). Additionally, scale effects are investigated based on comparison with LES results obtained at a much lower Reynolds number of 16,000 in a previous investigation. The paper provides a detailed study of the dynamics of the main necklace vortices of the horseshoe vortex system, including an investigation of the bimodal oscillations, their effect on the amplification of the turbulence within the scour hole and the interactions of the necklace vortices with the downflow. Several mechanisms for the growth of the downstream part of the scour hole in the later stages of the scour process are discussed. Similar to the low-Reynolds-number simulation, and consistent with experimental observations, the presence of strong upwelling motions near the symmetry plane resulted in the suppression of the large-scale vortex shedding in the wake. The fact that the nondimensional values of the turbulent kinetic energy and pressure RMS fluctuations in the higher Reynolds number simulation were consistently lower inside the regions of high turbulence amplification associated with the main necklace vortex, the separated shear layers and the near-wake shows that changes in the flow and turbulence due to the Reynolds number and scour hole geometry can be quantitatively significant over Reynolds numbers between ${10}^4$ and ${10}^5$ .

It has been observed that submerged weirs in bendways realign the flow and in general improve navigation conditions. This qualitative observation has been the basis for field design. This paper presents a study of hydrodynamics in the Victoria Bendway in the Mississippi River using three-dimensional numerical simulations. A numerical model, CCHE3D, was applied and computational results were compared to three-dimensional velocity data provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with reasonable agreement. The numerical simulation results were then used to analyze helical currents due to the channel curvature and the presence of submerged weirs. The simulated flow realignment near the free surface indicates that the flow conditions in the bendway were improved by the submerged weirs, however, the effectiveness of each weir depends on its alignment, local channel morphology, and flow conditions.

The importance of spatial resolution for two-dimensional shallow-water model accuracy has been investigated by testing the effect of mesh refinement on two test cases based on laboratory dam-break experiments. A balanced first-order accurate upwind Q-Scheme and a second-order accurate upwind Hancock Monotone Upstream-centered Scheme for Conservation Laws scheme were both first validated on an analytical test, and then applied to the experimental dam-break test cases on four meshes of different density. Simulation results were evaluated through comparison of experimental and computed water level values at several available gauge points. Model sensitivity analysis showed that (1) mesh density was not critical for results accuracy; (2) excessive mesh refinement somewhat deteriorated the results; and (3) optimal spatial resolution was relatively low. Response is shown to be highly complex and no simple relation between spatial resolution and model accuracy has been found.

A Lagrangian, nonhydrostatic, Boussinesq model for weakly nonlinear and weakly dispersive flow is presented. The model is an extension of the hydrostatic model—dynamic river model. The model uses a second-order, staggered grid, predictor-corrector scheme with a fractional step method for the computation of the nonhydrostatic pressure. Numerical results for solitary waves and undular bores are compared with Korteweg-de Vries analytical solutions and published numerical, laboratory, and theoretical results. The model reproduced well known features of solitary waves, such as wave speed, wave height, balance between nonlinear steepening and wave dispersion, nonlinear interactions, and phase shifting when waves interact. It is shown that the Lagrangian moving grid is dynamically adaptive in that it ensures a compression of the grid size under the wave to provide higher resolution in this region. Also the model successfully reproduced a train of undular waves (short waves) from a long wave such that the predicted amplitude of the leading wave in the train agreed well with published numerical and experimental results. For prismatic channels, the method has no numerical diffusion and it is demonstrated that a simple second-order scheme suffices to provide an efficient and economical solution for predicting nonhydrostatic shallow water flows.

Experiments were performed using three-dimensional laser-induced fluorescence on turbulent vertical dense jets in flowing currents typical of brine disposal from seawater desalination plants. The flows are complex and different phenomena can dominate at different locations and at different current speeds, indicating that predicting these flows numerically will be quite challenging. At low current speeds, the rising and falling flows are almost vertical with some interference between them and the bottom flow spreads upstream as a wedge. At higher current speeds the wedge is expelled; the ascending flow is still almost vertical, but the descending flow is more gradual so the jet impacts the lower boundary farther downstream. Dilutions at the terminal rise height and impact point increase with increasing current speeds. Cross-sectional profiles of tracer concentration are neither axially or self-similar. In the descending flow, at low or intermediate current speeds, the plume is much taller than it is wide, the peak concentration occurs much closer to the top, and fluid can detrain from the jet. At higher current speeds, the profiles initially approach radial symmetry, but develop a kidney shape due to formation of two counter-rotating vortices farther downstream. These vortices cause the jet to almost completely bifurcate after impacting the bottom.

Hydraulic jumps in an inclined rectangular chute contraction were studied in this paper. Theoretical equations for the sequent-area and sequent-depth ratios for hydraulic jumps in the contraction were developed considering the effects of contracting width and sloping bottom. The equation of the sequent-area ratio (instead of the sequent-depth ratio) has the same form as the traditional Belanger equation for the sequent-depth ratio for hydraulic jumps in a horizontal rectangular constant-width channel (HRCW channel). A modified approach Froude number $M$ , including the effects of contracting width and sloping bottom, was introduced to replace the approach Froude number ${\mathsf{F}}_1$ in analyzing hydraulic jumps in the contraction. Laboratory experiments of hydraulic jumps in inclined contractions were also conducted to verify the theoretical sequent-area ratio and also to develop the empirical equations of the location of the start of the jump, flow depth of the start of the jump, length of the jump, and energy loss of the jump. The calculation procedure for the application of the presented equations is also provided in this paper.

Sensitivity analysis is well recognized as being an important aspect of the responsible use of hydraulic models. This paper reviews a range of methods for sensitivity analysis. Two applications, one to a simple pipe bend example and the second to an advanced Shallow Water Equation solver, illustrate the deficiencies of standardized regression coefficients in the context of functionally nonlinear models. Derivatives and other local methods of sensitivity analysis are shown to give an incomplete picture of model response over the range of variability in the model inputs. The use of global variance-based sensitivity analysis is shown to be more general in its applicability and in its capacity to reflect nonlinear processes and the effects of interactions among variables.

Currently the modeling of check valves and flow control valves in water distribution systems is based on heuristics intermixed with solving the set of nonlinear equations governing flow in the network. At the beginning of a simulation, the operating status of these valves is not known and must be assumed. The system is then solved. The status of the check valves and flow control valves are then changed to try to determine their correct operating status, at times leading to incorrect solutions even for simple systems. This paper proposes an entirely different approach. Content and co-content theory is used to define conditions that guarantee the existence and uniqueness of the solution. The work here focuses solely on flow control devices with a defined head discharge versus head loss relationship. A new modeling approach for water distribution systems based on subdifferential analysis that deals with the nondifferentiable flow versus head relationships is proposed in this paper. The water distribution equations are solved as a constrained nonlinear programming problem based on the content model where the Lagrangian multipliers have important physical meanings. This new method gives correct solutions by dealing appropriately with inequality and equality constraints imposed by the presence of the flow regulating devices (check valves, flow control valves, and temporarily closed isolating valves). An example network is used to illustrate the concepts.

Flow properties of a bubble plume in density-stratified conditions are studied using planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) flow visualization. Entrained ambient fluid is identified by applying an image intensity threshold to the PLIF images of passive dye tracer injected at the bubble diffuser. The density stratification gradually arrests the entrained ambient fluid, causing detrainment, or peeling, of the continuous phase fluid from the bubble plume core and intrusion of the detrained fluid at a level of neutral buoyancy; bubbles continue to rise above each detrainment zone. The peel and intrusion heights for the first detrainment event above the diffuser are measured from the thresholded PLIF images. The nondimensional frequency of fluctuations in the detrainment and intrusion heights $fz/u_s$ is measured as 0.35 (where $f$ =frequency; $z$ =height above the diffuser; and $u_s$ =terminal rise velocity of the bubbles in a quiescent fluid), and this value compares well to the plume wandering frequency for similar experiments in unstratified reservoirs.

The characteristics of a turbulent jet issuing from a square cross section nozzle in the vicinity of a free surface are presented. Two-component laser Doppler measurements were obtained at eight stations downstream of the nozzle exit, up to a distance of 27 nozzle widths. The Reynolds number based on the exit condition was 40,000. The proximity of the free surface influence the turbulence levels in the jet. Both confinement effects and axis switching influence the evolution of the velocity profiles downstream of the nozzle. The shear stress profiles indicate the formation of a wider mixing zone in the bottom portion of the jet in regions closer to the nozzle exit. Through quadrant decomposition, ejection, and entraining type events were identified. The magnitudes of the peak shear stress in the various quadrants indicate differences in the turbulence characteristics on the top and bottom portions of the jet. As distinguished in the extreme event plots, there are differences in the magnitudes of the peaks and also in their locations.

This experimental study focuses the influence of bed material mobility and initial downstream water level on maximum water level and time to peak of dam-break waves. It covers horizontal bed conditions on fixed bed, sand bed, and pumice bed. Results include water surface level time evolution, maxima wave levels and time to peak. The influence of bed material mobility and downstream water level was identified and characterized, stressing the importance of using mathematical models with appropriate sediment transport formulations instead of purely hydrodynamic models to simulate dam-break waves on mobile bed channels.

Sump inlets are used to collect storm water on the streets or to release stored water in detention basins. The complication in sump inlet hydraulics arises in the transition from weir to orifice flow regimes. Conventionally, the capacity of a sump inlet has been assumed to be either weir or orifice flow, whichever is smaller for a given water depth. Although this practice might not result in a failure to the storm drain, it has led to randomly oversized or undersized inlets. This paper presents a laboratory investigation of the interception capacities of several different types of sump inlets, including bar and vane grates, and 3- and 5-ft curb opening inlets. The observed data revealed significant differences from the recommended HEC 22 design procedure. In this study, new formulas and procedures are developed with the coefficients calibrated by the laboratory data.

Water quality models based on accurate mixing data at cross junctions are important for estimating concentrations of chemical species in municipal water distribution systems. Recent studies indicate that the instantaneous complete (thus “perfect”) mixing assumption potentially can result in an erroneous prediction of water quality. The present study examines the updated “incomplete” solute mixing model at cross junctions in a network having multiple cross junctions. The model performance in predicting solute transport was evaluated through a series of tracer experiments in a pressurized $5\times 5$ network with 9 cross junctions. The perfect mixing model consistently overestimated solute dilution at cross junctions and predicted evenly distributed solute concentration throughout the network. In contrast, the incomplete mixing model demonstrated uneven distribution patterns with a distinct solute plume, and the corresponding results were significantly more accurate than those based on the perfect mixing assumption. Average prediction errors in tracer concentrations were 15 and 66% using the updated and perfect mixing models, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant ( $P$ -value $<0.001$ ). Therefore, this study concludes that the incomplete mixing model can drastically improve the prediction of solute transport in pressurized pipe systems that have multiple cross junctions.

An experimental investigation with large-scale model tests of bubbles moving upward and downward in downward-inclined pipes is presented. The shape, velocity, and drag coefficient of single nonspherical air bubbles in continuous air-water flows are discussed. The bubble height depends mainly on the approach flow water velocity and the pipe slope. For stagnant bubbles, the bubble height is determined depending on these two parameters. Equilibrium of the drag and buoyancy forces is applied on single air bubbles in downward-inclined pipes. In pipes with pipe slope ranging from 0.052–0.087, the bubble drag coefficient is independent of the bubble Reynolds number. However, the bubble drag coefficient depends on the pipe slope and the approach flow water velocity. Using the approach of the equilibrium of the main forces the volume of stagnant bubbles can be predicted.