Three-Dimensional Modeling of Negatively Buoyant Flow in Diverging Channels

Diverging channels, also known as diffusers, represent common natural and industrial outlets to lakes, reservoirs, and rivers. If the outflow in a diffuser has a larger density than the ambient water, the inflow may plunge and form a density underflow. In this paper, a three-dimensional numerical study was conducted to gain insight into the mechanism of negatively buoyant flows in diffusers with a sloping bottom. Of particular interest is the formation of separated flows such as wall-jet and free-jet flows. Various cases of plunging and the associated density current in a diffuser with different divergence angles and inflow densimetric Froude numbers are considered. The model successfully simulates the formation of attached flow, wall jets, and free jets in a negatively buoyant environment. The onset, evolution, and stabilization of a stall and the subsequent development of a wall jet in a negatively buoyant flow are investigated in detail. Computed results also show favorable agreement with some published experimental data on density current generated by the plunging of cold water in ambient warm water in a diverging channel.