International audienceAn experimental study of the characteristics of dividing critical flows in a 90° open-channel junction formed by three horizontal equal-width branches is presented, conducted for various inflow discharges and downstream boundary conditions. Outflow discharges and flow depths were also measured. Four main flow patterns are identified considering the location and length of the hydraulic jumps that develop across the main and lateral channels. A relationship between the discharge division ratio and the tailwater Froude number is found, reproducing well the experimental data. Practical applications of this relationship include the design of open channel and pipe networks and one-dimensional numerical modelling of flood propagation in urban areas. The study shows also that a two-dimensional depth-averaged numerical model hardly gives better predictions of the discharge ratios because of the presence of three-dimensional features at the junction

[1] Subcritical flow in an intersection composed of four similar orthogonal channels has been studied experimentally in a configuration with two inflows and two outflows for a wide range of experimental conditions. The results have been used to develop a relationship between the incoming flow rates and the flow distribution in the two outlet channels, based on the conservation of discharge and momentum in the intersection, and suitable stagedischarge relationships for the downstream controls in the outflow channels. A final equation is provided by an empirical correlation for the outflow in one of the channels, based on the experimental data obtained from these experiments; this correlation agrees with all the available data to within 65%. It is shown how the resulting set of equations can be used to compute the discharge distribution in any similar intersection, given the incoming flow rates and some form of stage-discharge relationship for the outlet conditions.