No abstract

Adaptation of stilling basins to higher discharges than those considered for their design implies deep knowledge of the flow developed in these structures. To this end, the hydraulic jump occurring in a typified United States Bureau of Reclamation Type II (USBR II) stilling basin was analyzed using a numerical and experimental modeling approach. A reduced-scale physical model to conduct an experimental campaign was built and a numerical computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was prepared to carry out the corresponding simulations. Both models were able to successfully reproduce the case study in terms of hydraulic jump shape, velocity profiles, and pressure distributions. The analysis revealed not only similarities to the flow in classical hydraulic jumps but also the influence of the energy dissipation devices existing in the stilling basin, all in good agreement with bibliographical information, despite some slight differences. Furthermore, the void fraction distribution was analyzed, showing satisfactory performance of the physical model, although the numerical approach presented some limitations to adequately represent the flow aeration mechanisms, which are discussed herein. Overall, the presented modeling approach can be considered as a useful tool to address the analysis of free surface flows occurring in stilling basins.

An accurate description of the hydrodynamics in the non-aerated region of the skimming flow on stepped spillways is of outmost importance, particularly in small structures at large discharges. In addition, the flow features upstream of the inception point of air entrainment determine the flow behavior in the downstream self-aerated region. In this work, numerical models of the flow in the non-aerated region of stepped spillways have been developed using diverse turbulence closures and discretization schemes implemented in two CFD codes: OpenFOAM and FLOW-3D ®. Partial VOF (Volume of Fluid) and "True" VOF (TruVOF) approaches are employed to capture the position of the free surface. The Standard, RNG and Realizable k-ε, in addition to the SST k-ω

The present paper deals with the hydraulic jump study, characterization and numerical modeling.

Pressure fluctuations are a key issue in hydraulic engineering. However, despite the large number of studies on the topic, their role in spatial hydraulic jumps is not yet fully understood. The results herein shed light on the formation of eddies and the derived pressure fluctuations in stilling basins with different expansion ratios. Laboratory tests are conducted in a horizontal rectangular flume with 0.5 m width and 10 m length. The range of approaching Froude numbers spans from 6.4 to 12.5 and the channel expansion ratios are 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1. The effects of approaching flow conditions and expansion ratios are thoroughly analyzed, focusing on the dimensionless standard deviation of pressure fluctuations and extreme pressure fluctuations. The results reveal that these variables show a clear dependence on the Froude number and the distance to the hydraulic jump toe. The maximum values of extreme pressure fluctuations occur in the range 0.609<X<3.385, where X is dimensionless distance from the toe of the hydraulic jump, which makes it highly advisable to reinforce the bed of stilling basins within this range.