Effective simulation of flow in a moderately curved bend with a single short branch to support the design optimization of river-branch–plant configurations. Issue 1 (31st December 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Song, Xiaolong; Huang, Hai; Chen, Youjun; Xu, Haijue; Bai, Yuchuan
• Is Part Of: Engineering applications of computational fluid mechanics. Volume 16:Issue 1(2022)
• Page Start: 1420
• Page End: 1443
• Publication Date: 2022-12-31
• Subjects: Systematic out-branching channel -- moderate bend with single branch -- effective simulation of flow -- branch on–off condition -- helical flow strength -- shear stress; Computational fluid dynamics -- Periodicals; 620.10640285
• DOI: 10.1080/19942060.2022.2093276
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1994-2060

Abstract

Abstract : The initial space settings of suitable environments for plants strongly affect the mutual feedback evolution of the river landscape and terrestrial plants. Thus, based on the morphological characteristics of newly-defined systematic out-branching channels in nature, this study performs an effective simulation of the flow of a designed moderately curved bend with a single short branch. The practice-based channel curvatures and branch on–off conditions are controlled in ANSYS FLUENT. The results show that: (1) the core zone of the depth-averaged primary velocity excess is approximately inversely equivalent to the channel migration potential; (2) the existence of the branch can strongly promote the formation of a new core vorticity zone and the conflicting development of the inner-negative and outer-positive vorticity zone after the bifurcation site at the cross-sections; (3) the free-flowing branch can greatly diminish the downstream helical flow strength; overall, the variation tendency of the ratio of helical flow strength to discharge squared is immune to the small range of change in stable inflow; and (4) the downstream channel is a strongly erosive region with the branch outlet closed, judging by the shear stress distribution; otherwise, it is a deposition region. The findings lay the groundwork for harmonious optimization of branch and plant configurations in river-bend systems.