The effect of geometrical parameters on the discharge capacity of meandering compound channels

A number of methods and formulae has been proposed in the literature to estimate the discharge capacity of compound channels. When the main channel has a meandering pattern, a reduction in the conveyance capacity for a given stage is observed, which is due to the energy dissipations caused by the development of strong secondary currents and to the decrease of the main channel bed slope with respect to the valley bed slope. The discharges in meandering compound channels are usually assessed applying, with some adjustments, the same methods used in the straight compound channels. Specifically, the sinuosity of the main channel is frequently introduced to account for its meandering pattern, although some methods use different geometric parameters. In this paper the stage—discharge curves for several compound channels having identical cross-sectional area, roughness and bed slope but different planimetric patterns are numerically calculated and compared, in order to identify which geometric parameter should be efficaciously used in empirical formulae to account for meandering patterns. The simulations are carried out using a 3D finite-volume model that solves the RANS equations using a k-εk-ε turbulence model. The numerical code is validated against experimental data collected in both straight and meandering compound channels. The numerical results show that the sinuosity is the main parameter to be accounted for in empirical formulae to assess the conveyance capacity of meandering compound channels. Comparison of the stage—discharge curves in the meandering compound channels with that obtained in a straight channel having identical cross-sectional area clearly shows the reduction of discharge due to the presence of bends in the main channel. The effect of other geometric parameters, such as the meander-belt width and the mean curvature radius, results very weak.