The Relevance of a Back-Scatter Model for Depth-Averaged Flow Simulation

This study demonstrates the importance of a sophisticated sub-grid model when performing a depth-averaged unsteady RANS simulation of a shallow flow. The reduction of resolution and the spatial dimensions exclude important physical processes as present in three-dimensional turbulence. Especially the effect of the bottom turbulence on the formation of horizontal eddies appears of key importance. A method is proposed to incorporate these effects by means of a kinematic simulation that mimics the residual turbulent fluctuations in a straight channel flow after depth-averaging. This method is developed in the context of the evolution of large eddies in a shallow mixing layer. A comparison with experiments shows that the proposed method works satisfactory. Naturally, it does not fully account for the omission of all 3D-effects.