Experimental and Numerical Investigation of 3D Dam-Break Wave Propagation in an Enclosed Domain with Dry and Wet Bottom

Abstract

Dam-break flood waves represent a severe threat to people and properties located in downstream regions. Although dam failure has been among the main subjects investigated in academia, little effort has been made toward investigating wave propagation under the influence of tailwater depth. This work presents three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulations of laboratory experiments of dam-breaks with tailwater performed at the Laboratory of Hydraulics of Iskenderun Technical University, Turkey. The dam-break wave was generated by the instantaneous removal of a sluice gate positioned at the center of a transversal wall forming the reservoir. Specifically, in order to understand the influence of tailwater level on wave propagation, three tests were conducted under the conditions of dry and wet downstream bottom with two different tailwater depths, respectively. The present research analyzes the propagation of the positive and negative wave originated by the dam-break, as well as the wave reflection against the channel’s downstream closed boundary. Digital image processing was used to track water surface patterns, and ultrasonic sensors were positioned at five different locations along the channel in order to obtain water stage hydrographs. Laboratory measurements were compared against the numerical results obtained through FLOW-3D commercial software, solving the 3D Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) with the k-ε turbulence model for closure, and Shallow Water Equations (SWEs). The comparison achieved a reasonable agreement with both numerical models, although the RANS showed in general, as expected, a better performance.

Simulating the 1976 Teton Dam Failure using Geoclaw and HEC-RAS and comparing with Historical Observations

“…It is widely accepted that the shallow water wave equations (SWE) are an appropriate mathematical formulation for resolving dam failure flood regimes, beginning with critical work in the 1970s (Martin & Zovne, 1971;Strelkoff et al, 1977;Keefer & Simons, 1977;Shigeeda et al, 2001;Kocaman et al, 2021). General agreement exists that the SWE can be used to describe dam-break waves over natural topography as they combine computational efficiency and accurate reconstruction of real-world flow regimes (Balloffet & Scheffler, 1982;Hervouet & Petitjean, 1999).…”

Mansapta Trapez Daralma Olması Durumunda Baraj Yıkılması Taşkın Dalgası Yayılımının Sığ Su Denklemleri ile Modellenmesi

“…Buna karşın, topoğrafya iki boyutlu sığ su denklemleri ile modellenirken köprü gibi engellerin civarında akımın 3 boyutlu RONS denklemleri kullanılarak modellendiği hibrit yöntemlere başvurulması problemin çözüm süresini önemli ölçüde azaltabilecektir. Sığ su denklemlerinin sağladığı en önemli avantaj sayısal modele ait çözüm sürelerinin 3 boyutlu modellere kıyasla daha kısa olmasıdır [25]. Sonuç olarak, baraj yıkılması taşkın analizi konusunda güvenilir modellerin yapılabilmesi ve hassas sonuçların elde edilebilmesi için bu etkilerin mutlaka dikkate alınması ve sayısal modellerin bu koşulları içeren kapsamlı deneysel çalışmalarla doğrulanması gerekecektir.…”

Dynamics of River Flood Waves below Hydropower Dams and Their Relation to Natural Floods

“…Ferrick [4] analyzed the Saint-Venant equations under a set of varying parameter proportions and concluded that most river flow pulses are shallow-water gravity waves that are little influenced by friction. Other studies use models such as HEC-RAS or Flow-3D to simulate discharge under different scenarios, with most effort being centered on dam failures (e.g., [5][6][7]). As pointed out by Criss and Hofmeister [8], the number of free and poorly constrained parameters in many hydrologic models exceeds the number of observable quantities that are demonstrably simulated, in which case their predictions are underconstrained.…”