Numerical modelling of turbulent flow through spillway with gated operation

Numerical simulation of rapidly varied, free surface turbulent flow over spillway with the existence of both sub-critical and super-critical flow regimes is a challenging task. Vertical acceleration plays a dominant role in the spillway flows. This paper describes the formulation and development of a numerical model for flow over the spillway. The computer model is developed using the finite volume method based on weakly compressible flow equations and large Eddy simulation (LES)-based turbulence model. The model is applied to a real world case study of partial gate operation of sluice spillway to investigate the hydraulic characteristics by simulating the velocity distribution, pressure distribution and discharge characteristics. Numerical modelling of sluice spillway is complicated because both moving free surface region and fixed conduit pressure flow in the sluice barrel are present. The numerical model results are compared with the physical model study. The simulated results are in close agreement with the measured values. Copyright q 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd