Depth‐averaged two‐dimensional curvilinear explicit finite analytic model for open‐channel flows

A depth‐averaged two‐dimensional model has been developed in the curvilinear co‐ordinate system for free‐surface flow problems. The non‐linear convective terms of the momentum equations are discretized based on the explicit–finite–analytic method with second‐order accuracy in space and first‐order accuracy in time. The other terms of the momentum equations, as well as the mass conservation equation, are discretized by the finite difference method. The discretized governing equations are solved in turn, and iteration in each time step is adopted to guarantee the numerical convergence. The new model has been applied to various flow situations, even for the cases with the presence of sub‐critical and supercritical flows simultaneously or sequentially. Comparisons between the numerical results and the experimental data show that the proposed model is robust with satisfactory accuracy. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Depth‐integrated free‐surface flow with a two‐layer non‐hydrostatic formulation

This paper presents the derivation of a depth‐integrated wave propagation and runup model from a system of governing equations for two‐layer non‐hydrostatic flows. The governing equations are transformed into an equivalent, depth‐integrated system, which separately describes the flux‐dominated and dispersion‐dominated processes. The depth‐integrated system reproduces the linear dispersion relation within a 5 error for water depth parameter up to kd = 11, while allowing direct implementation of a momentum conservation scheme to model wave breaking and a moving‐waterline technique for runup calculation. A staggered finite‐difference scheme discretizes the governing equations in the horizontal dimension and the Keller box scheme reconstructs the non‐hydrostatic terms in the vertical direction. An semi‐implicit scheme integrates the depth‐integrated flow in time with the non‐hydrostatic pressure determined from a Poisson‐type equation. The model is verified with solitary wave propagation in a channel of uniform depth and validated with previous laboratory experiments for wave transformation over a submerged bar, a plane beach, and fringing reefs. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An implicit three‐dimensional fully non‐hydrostatic model for free‐surface flows

An implicit method is developed for solving the complete three‐dimensional (3D) Navier–Stokes equations. The algorithm is based upon a staggered finite difference Crank‐Nicholson scheme on a Cartesian grid. A new top‐layer pressure treatment and a partial cell bottom treatment are introduced so that the 3D model is fully non‐hydrostatic and is free of any hydrostatic assumption. A domain decomposition method is used to segregate the resulting 3D matrix system into a series of two‐dimensional vertical plane problems, for each of which a block tri‐diagonal system can be directly solved for the unknown horizontal velocity. Numerical tests including linear standing waves, nonlinear sloshing motions, and progressive wave interactions with uneven bottoms are performed. It is found that the model is capable to simulate accurately a range of free‐surface flow problems using a very small number of vertical layers (e.g. two–four layers). The developed model is second‐order accuracy in time and space and is unconditionally stable; and it can be effectively used to model 3D surface wave motions. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reynolds stress modelling of rectangular open‐channel flow

A Reynolds stress model for the numerical simulation of uniform 3D turbulent open‐channel flows is described. The finite volume method is used for the numerical solution of the flow equations and transport equations of the Reynolds stress components. The overall solution strategy is the SIMPLER algorithm, and the power‐law scheme is used to discretize the convection and diffusion terms in the governing equations. The developed model is applied to a flow at a Reynolds number of 77000 in a rectangular channel with a width to depth ratio of 2. The simulated mean flow and turbulence structures are compared with measured and computed data from the literature. The computed flow vectors in the plane normal to the streamwise direction show a small vortex, called inner secondary currents, located at the juncture of the sidewall and the free surface as well as the free surface and bottom vortices. This small vortex causes a significant increase in the wall shear stress in the vicinity of the free surface. A budget analysis of the streamwise vorticity is carried out. It is found that both production terms by anisotropy of Reynolds normal stress and by Reynolds shear stress contribute to the generation of secondary currents. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An implicit two‐dimensional non‐hydrostatic model for free‐surface flows

An implicit finite volume model in sigma coordinate system is developed to simulate two‐dimensional (2D) vertical free surface flows, deploying a non‐hydrostatic pressure distribution. The algorithm is based on a projection method which solves the complete 2D Navier–Stokes equations in two steps. First the pressure term in the momentum equations is excluded and the resultant advection–diffusion equations are solved. In the second step the continuity and the momentum equation with only the pressure terms are solved to give a block tri‐diagonal system of equation with pressure as the unknown. This system can be solved by a direct matrix solver without iteration. A new implicit treatment of non‐hydrostatic pressure, similar to the lower layers is applied to the top layer which makes the model free of any hydrostatic pressure assumption all through the water column. This treatment enables the model to evaluate both free surface elevation and wave celerity more accurately. A series of numerical tests including free‐surface flows with significant vertical accelerations and nonlinear behaviour in shoaling zone are performed. Comparison between numerical results, analytical solutions and experimental data demonstrates a satisfactory performance. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of non‐hydrostatic,density‐stratified flow in irregular domains

A numerical model has been developed for simulating density‐stratified flow in domains with irregular but simple topography. The model was designed for simulating strong interactions between internal gravity waves and topography, e.g. exchange flows in contracting channels, tidally or convectively driven flow over two‐dimensional sills or waves propagating onto a shoaling bed. The model is based on the non‐hydrostatic, Boussinesq equations of motion for a continuously stratified fluid in a rotating frame, subject to user‐configurable boundary conditions. An orthogonal boundary fitting co‐ordinate system is used for the numerical computations, which rely on a fourth‐order compact differentiation scheme, a third‐order explicit time stepping and a multi‐grid based pressure projection algorithm. The numerical techniques are described and a suite of validation studies are presented. The validation studies include a pointwise comparison of numerical simulations with both analytical solutions and laboratory measurements of non‐linear solitary wave propagation. Simulation results for flows lacking analytical or laboratory data are analysed a posteriori to demonstrate satisfaction of the potential energy balance. Computational results are compared with two‐layer hydraulic predictions in the case of exchange flow through a contracting channel. Finally, a simulation of circulation driven by spatially non‐uniform surface buoyancy flux in an irregular basin is discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A two‐dimensional vertical non‐hydrostatic σ model with an implicit method for free‐surface flows

An implicit finite difference model in the σ co‐ordinate system is developed for non‐hydrostatic, two‐dimensional vertical plane free‐surface flows. To accurately simulate interaction of free‐surface flows with uneven bottoms, the unsteady Navier–Stokes equations and the free‐surface boundary condition are solved simultaneously in a regular transformed σ domain using a fully implicit method in two steps. First, the vertical velocity and pressure are expressed as functions of horizontal velocity. Second, substituting these relationship into the horizontal momentum equation provides a block tri‐diagonal matrix system with the unknown of horizontal velocity, which can be solved by a direct matrix solver without iteration. A new treatment of non‐hydrostatic pressure condition at the top‐layer cell is developed and found to be important for resolving the phase of wave propagation. Additional terms introduced by the σ co‐ordinate transformation are discretized appropriately in order to obtain accurate and stable numerical results. The developed model has been validated by several tests involving free‐surface flows with strong vertical accelerations and non‐linear waves interacting with uneven bottoms. Comparisons among numerical results, analytical solutions and experimental data show the capability of the model to simulate free‐surface flow problems. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A depth‐integrated non‐hydrostatic finite element model for wave propagation

This paper presents a two‐dimensional finite element model for simulating dynamic propagation of weakly dispersive waves. Shallow water equations including extra non‐hydrostatic pressure terms and a depth‐integrated vertical momentum equation are solved with linear distributions assumed in the vertical direction for the non‐hydrostatic pressure and the vertical velocity. The model is developed based on the platform of a finite element model, CCHE2D. A physically bounded upwind scheme for the advection term discretization is developed, and the quasi second‐order differential operators of this scheme result in no oscillation and little numerical diffusion. The depth‐integrated non‐hydrostatic wave model is solved semi‐implicitly: the provisional flow velocity is first implicitly solved using the shallow water equations; the non‐hydrostatic pressure, which is implicitly obtained by ensuring a divergence‐free velocity field, is used to correct the provisional velocity, and finally the depth‐integrated continuity equation is explicitly solved to satisfy global mass conservation. The developed wave model is verified by an analytical solution and validated by laboratory experiments, and the computed results show that the wave model can properly handle linear and nonlinear dispersive waves, wave shoaling, diffraction, refraction and focusing. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Three‐dimensional numerical simulation of compound meandering open channel flow by the Reynolds stress model

Turbulent flow in a compound meandering open channel with seminatural cross sections is one of the most complicated turbulent flows as the flow pattern is influenced by the combined action of various forces, such as centrifugal force, pressure, and shear stresses. In this paper, a three‐dimensional (3D) Reynolds stress model (RSM) is adopted to simulate the compound meandering channel flows. Governing equations of the flow are solved numerically with finite‐volume method. The velocity fields, wall shear stresses, and Reynolds stresses are calculated for a range of input conditions. Good agreement between the simulated results and measurements indicates that RSM can successfully predict the complicated flow phenomenon. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Three‐dimensional numerical modelling of free surface flows with non‐hydrostatic pressure

A three‐dimensional numerical model is developed for incompressible free surface flows. The model is based on the unsteady Reynolds‐averaged Navier–Stokes equations with a non‐hydrostatic pressure distribution being incorporated in the model. The governing equations are solved in the conventional sigma co‐ordinate system, with a semi‐implicit time discretization. A fractional step method is used to enable the pressure to be decomposed into its hydrostatic and hydrodynamic components. At every time step one five‐diagonal system of equations is solved to compute the water elevations and then the hydrodynamic pressure is determined from a pressure Poisson equation. The model is applied to three examples to simulate unsteady free surface flows where non‐hydrostatic pressures have a considerable effect on the velocity field. Emphasis is focused on applying the model to wave problems. Two of the examples are about modelling small amplitude waves where the hydrostatic approximation and long wave theory are not valid. The other example is the wind‐induced circulation in a closed basin. The numerical solutions are compared with the available analytical solutions for small amplitude wave theory and very good agreement is obtained. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Non‐hydrostatic 3D free surface layer‐structured finite volume model for short wave propagation

In this paper a layer‐structured finite volume model for non‐hydrostatic 3D environmental free surface flow is presented and applied to several test cases, which involve the computation of gravity waves. The 3D unsteady momentum and mass conservation equations are solved in a collocated grid made of polyhedrons, which are built from a 2D horizontal unstructured mesh, by just adding several horizontal layers. The mesh built in such a way is unstructured in the horizontal plane, but structured in the vertical direction. This procedure simplifies the mesh generation and at the same time it produces a well‐oriented mesh for stratified flows, which are common in environmental problems. The model reduces to a 2D depth‐averaged shallow water model when one single layer is defined in the mesh. Pressure–velocity coupling is achieved by the Semi‐Implicit Method for Pressure‐Linked Equations algorithm, using Rhie–Chow interpolation to stabilize the pressure field. An attractive property of the model proposed is the ability to compute the propagation of short waves with a rather coarse vertical discretization. Several test cases are solved in order to show the capabilities and numerical stability of the model, including a rectangular free oscillating basin, a radially symmetric wave, short wave propagation over a 1D bar, solitary wave runup on a vertical wall, and short wave refraction over a 2D shoal. In all the cases the numerical results are compared either with analytical or with experimental data. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Turbulence in a three‐dimensional wall‐bounded shear flow

A new turbulent flow with distinct three‐dimensional characteristics has been designed in order to study the impact of mean‐flow skewing on the turbulent coherent vortices and Reynolds‐averaged statistics. The skewing of a unidirectional plane Couette flow was achieved by means of a spanwise pressure gradient. Direct numerical simulations of the statistically steady Couette–Poiseuille flow enabled in‐depth explorations of the turbulence field in the skewed flow. The imposition of a modest spanwise gradient turned the mean flow about 8° away from the original Couette flow direction and this turning angle remained nearly the same over the entire cross section. Nevertheless, a substantial non‐alignment between the turbulent shear stress angle and the mean velocity gradient angle was observed. The structure parameter turned out to slightly exceed that in the pure Couette flow, contrary to the observations made in some other three‐dimensional shear flows. Coherent flow structures, which are known to be associated with the Reynolds shear stress in near‐wall regions, were identified by the λ₂‐criterion. Instantaneous and ensemble‐averaged vortices resembled those found in the unidirectional Couette flow. In the skewed flow, however, the vortex structures were turned to align with the local mean‐flow direction. The conventional symmetry between Case 1 and Case 2 vortices was broken due to the mean‐flow three‐dimensionality. The turning of the coherent vortices and the accompanying symmetry‐breaking gave rise to secondary and tertiary turbulent shear stress components. By averaging the already ensemble‐averaged shear stresses associated with Case 1 and Case 2 vortices in the homogeneous directions, a direct link between the educed near‐wall structures and the Reynolds‐averaged turbulent stresses was established. These observations provide evidence in support of the hypothesis that the structural model proposed for two‐dimensional turbulent boundary layers remains valid also in flows with moderate mean three‐dimensionality. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical simulation of turbulent free surface flow with two‐equation k–ε eddy‐viscosity models

This paper presents a finite difference technique for solving incompressible turbulent free surface fluid flow problems. The closure of the time‐averaged Navier–Stokes equations is achieved by using the two‐equation eddy‐viscosity model: the high‐Reynolds k–ε (standard) model, with a time scale proposed by Durbin; and a low‐Reynolds number form of the standard k–ε model, similar to that proposed by Yang and Shih. In order to achieve an accurate discretization of the non‐linear terms, a second/third‐order upwinding technique is adopted. The computational method is validated by applying it to the flat plate boundary layer problem and to impinging jet flows. The method is then applied to a turbulent planar jet flow beneath and parallel to a free surface. Computations show that the high‐Reynolds k–ε model yields favourable predictions both of the zero‐pressure‐gradient turbulent boundary layer on a flat plate and jet impingement flows. However, the results using the low‐Reynolds number form of the k–ε model are somewhat unsatisfactory. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Weighted averaged equations for modeling velocity profiles of 1D steady open channel flows

A new mathematical algorithm is proposed to address the essential details of vertical distributions of horizontal velocity for one‐dimensional steady open‐channel flow. This new algorithm comprises a system of weighted averaged equations developed from corresponding Reynolds equations by performing weighted average operations instead of conventional depth average operations. It is the system of weighted averaged equations, instead of the vertical grids, that allows for more hydraulic coefficients identifiable. It can be thought of as an extension of the St. Venant equations to address the vertical distributions of horizontal velocities, as well as the water surface profiles. To avoid the difficult expansion of governing partial differential equations in high order, an indirect scheme is proposed to solve hydraulic variables through their weighted average values. The governing partial differential equations are generated by using a variety of weight functions, and the weighted averages of relevant hydraulic variables are taken as the unknown independent variables to be solved first. Then, on the basis of the values and polynomial expansions of these weighted averaged velocities, a system of linear algebraic equations is generated and the unknown hydraulic variables or their coefficients are easily solved. Note that the new model is not proposed to compete with any three‐dimensional models in modeling accuracy or accommodation ability to all conditions. It just provides a valuable option to study the vertical structure of flow in open channels where only essential detail and reasonable accuracy of vertical distributions are required, and the data availability and other conditions limit the application of fully three‐dimensional models. The performance of the model is evaluated with experimental data of flows in two different flumes. It is shown that the model well predicted the velocity profiles of sections along the centerlines of these flumes with reasonable accuracy and essential details of vertical distributions of horizontal velocity. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Three‐dimensional modeling of non‐hydrostatic free‐surface flows on unstructured grids

A three‐dimensional numerical model is presented for the simulation of unsteady non‐hydrostatic shallow water flows on unstructured grids using the finite volume method. The free surface variations are modeled by a characteristics‐based scheme, which simulates sub‐critical and super‐critical flows. Three‐dimensional velocity components are considered in a collocated arrangement with a σ‐coordinate system. A special treatment of the pressure term is developed to avoid the water surface oscillations. Convective and diffusive terms are approximated explicitly, and an implicit discretization is used for the pressure term to ensure exact mass conservation. The unstructured grid in the horizontal direction and the σ coordinate in the vertical direction facilitate the use of the model in complicated geometries. Solution of the non‐hydrostatic equations enables the model to simulate short‐period waves and vertically circulating flows. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

1‐D numerical modelling of shallow flows with variable horizontal density

A1‐D numerical model is presented for vertically homogeneous shallow flows with variable horizontal density. The governing equations represent depth‐averaged mass and momentum conservation of a liquid–species mixture, and mass conservation of the species in the horizontal direction. Here, the term ‘species’ refers to material transported with the liquid flow. For example, when the species is taken to be suspended sediment, the model provides an idealized simulation of hyper‐concentrated sediment‐laden flows. The volumetric species concentration acts as an active scalar, allowing the species dynamics to modify the flow structure. A Godunov‐type finite volume scheme is implemented to solve the conservation laws written in a deviatoric, hyperbolic form. The model is verified for variable‐density flows, where analytical steady‐state solutions are derived. The agreement between the numerical predictions and benchmark test solutions illustrates the ability of the model to capture rapidly varying flow features over uniform and non‐uniform bed topography. A parameter study examines the effects of varying the initial density and depth in different regions. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.