Title: Three-dimensional non-hydrostatic simulation of gravity currents using TELEMAC3D and comparison of results to experimental data

Authors: Mohamed Mahgoub; Reinhard Hinkelmann; Michele La Rocca

Addresses: Chair of Water Resources Management and Modelling of Hydrosystems, TU Berlin, Gustav-Meyer-Allee 25, TIB1-B14, 13355, Berlin, Germany ' Chair of Water Resources Management and Modelling of Hydrosystems, TU Berlin, Gustav-Meyer-Allee 25, TIB1-B14, 13355, Berlin, Germany ' Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Universita degli Studi RomaTRE, Via Vito Volterra 62, 00146 Roma, Italy

Abstract: Gravity currents are complex phenomena occurring in a wide range of natural flows. They were simulated in this research with the TELEMAC3D modelling system. The numerical results were compared to two sets of laboratory scale 2D and 3D lock-exchange experiments. In the 2D case, numerical and experimental results agreed very well. While in the 3D case a fair agreement was obtained. It was essential to use the non-hydrostatic approach and suitable turbulence models (Prandtl's mixing length and the k-ε models). We conclude that 3D non-hydrostatic numerical model is capable of simulating gravity currents in regular geometry. The two lock-exchange experiments can serve as benchmark cases for realistic density currents in fluvial or estuarine environment.

Keywords: gravity currents; TELEMAC3D; lock-exchange experiments; non-hydrostatic modelling; numerical modelling; 3D simulation; turbulence models; fluvial environments; estuarine environments.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2015.067325

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2015 Vol.15 No.1, pp.56 - 67

Published online: 05 Feb 2015 *

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