Experimental and Numerical Study of the Discharge Coefficient in Parabolic Labyrinth Weirs

Abstract

An increase in the hydraulic capacity of flow conveyance over a weir per a given stage of a stream upstream of the weir is feasible by extending the effective length of the crest of the weir per unit width of flow section. In this work, in order to study the hydraulics of the flow and compare the values of the passing discharge, a 3-D simulation of the flow field on arced labyrinth weirs (single-cycle and double-cycle) was carried out in Flow3D software at the hydraulic loading rate of 0.05 to 0.74 by statistical analysis and the comparison of results obtained from numerical modeling of experimental data. Weirs utilized in this study were three single-cycle weirs (10, 12, and 15 cm in height) and three double-cycle weirs (5, 6, and 7.5 cm in height) examined in a rectangular flume having 8.4, 0.3, and 0.45 m length, width, and height, respectively. The results showed that the data of the numerical model were well conformed to the data of the experimental model. According to the results, a 50% increase in the weir's height will raise the discharge coefficient by 25.5%. Furthermore, the discharge coefficient in a single-cycle arced labyrinth weir at hydraulic loading rates less than 0.4 was higher than the discharge coefficient in a double-cycle arced labyrinth weir. Moreover, the corresponding values were nearly equal at higher hydraulic loading rates.

Keywords

• arced labyrinth weir
• discharge coefficient
• numerical model
• flow3d