Numerical modelling of flow characteristics over sharp crested triangular hump

Abstract

Research findings have shown that accurate estimation of performance and water surface profiles in hydraulic structures are cumbersome and time-consuming. Furthermore, investigating hydraulic variables experimentally required more money to conduct the field tests and to find the needed equipment. Additionally, laboratory measurements of the hydraulic parameters are not accurate when compared with numerical simulation results. Therefore, numerical simulation of hydraulic problems such as flow over hump using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) science is a great alternative for laboratory tests. In this study, the flow properties of a sharp crested triangular weir of dimension 50 ​× ​30 ​× ​7 ​cm3 was modelled numerically using Flow 3D and validated using laboratory experiments. Results showed that the software modelled the hydraulic parameters such as the flow surface elevation, Froudes number, velocity and water depths through the triangular hump with a greater degree of performance and accuracy (minimum variations between 4% and 5%). Flow 3D was therefore recommended as a useful tool to predict and investigate the flow behaviour at upstream and downstream of the weirs as well as in different hydraulic structure. In addition, similar modelling with other turbulence models within the software can be considered a strong scientific contribution to the field and is therefore highly recommended for future studies. © 2019 The Authors