The flow characteristics in compound channels with and without vegetation on the floodplain were investigated experimentally and numerically in this thesis. Detailed measurements of velocity and boundary shear stress, using a Pitot tube and an acoustic Doppler velocimeter together with a Preston tube, were undertaken to understand the flow characteristics in compound channels. Eight no-rod cases, two emergent-rod cases and two submerged-rod cases were tested. Unsteady large eddies that occur in the shear layer were explored numerically with Large Eddy Simulation (LES) to identify its generation and its effects on the flow behaviors. Mean flow parameters were predicted using the quasi-2D model by considering the shear effect. Usirgg the data of depth-averaged velocity and boundary shear stress, the contributions of shear-generated turbulence and bed-generated turbulence to the Reynolds shear stress were identified, the apparent shear stress was calculated using the modified method of Shiono and Knight (1991) and the depth-averaged secondary current force was then obtained. Large eddies were important to the lateral momentum exchange in shallow non-vegetated compound channels and even in deep vegetated compound channels. In the compound channel with one-line rods at the floodplain edge, the secondary current forces were of opposite signs in the main channel and on the floodplain and the bed shear stress was smaller than the standard two-dimensional value of yHSo due to the vegetation effect, where y,H,So are the specific weight of water, water depth and bed slope respectively. In vegetated compound channels, the velocity patterns were different to those and the discharges were smaller than those in non-vegetated compound channels under similar relative water depth conditions. The anisotropy of turbulence was the main contribution to the generation of secondary currents in non-vegetated and vegetated compound channels, but the Reynolds stress term was more important in the vegetated compound channels. Results of cross spectra showed the mechanisms of the turbulent shear generation near the main channel-floodplain junction are due to large eddies in the non-vegetated compound channel and owing to wakes in the vegetated compound channel. LES results indicated that large eddies caused significant spatial and temporal fluctuations of velocity and water level in the compound channel and the instantaneousv alues of these flow parameters were significantly higher than the mean values. In vegetated compound channels, the flow moved from the main channel to the floodplain and from the floodplain to the main channel alternately. The characteristic frequencies of the large eddy were less than 1Hz which was consistent with the experimental data. The capability of the quasi-2D model to predict the 2D mean flow parameters in compound channels were assessed under different flow conditions and also improved by using the mean wall velocity as the boundary condition and appropriate values of the lateral gradient of the secondary current force. In the vegetated compound channels, new approaches were proposed to treat the drag force in the cases of oneline emergent rods at the floodplain edge and submerged rods on the floodplain.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:479481 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Sun, Xin |
| Publisher | Loughborough University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/7992 |
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