A Numerical Approach to Analyzing Shallow Flows over Rough Surfaces

Abstract

The hydraulic characteristics (such as velocity profiles, near-bed velocity profile, bed shear stress, and resistance coefficients) of shallow flows over rough surfaces were investigated using numerical simulations. A novel method is presented to simulate shallow flows over rough surfaces in a two-dimensional (2D) numerical domain, where the physical numerical domain represents bed topography. Results reveal that the model can accurately predict spatially averaged velocity profiles, turbulence characteristics, shear stresses, and uniform flow depths. The analysis identified two distinct flow regions based on mean and turbulent flow profiles. Results show that the turbulent shear stress profiles provide a more accurate estimation of the bed shear stresses. Resistance coefficients (friction factor or Manning’s roughness coefficient) vary with Froude number and submergence ratio (depth divided by roughness height).

Keywords

• shallow flows
• sheet flows
• bed shear stress
• turbulence characteristics
• roughness representation