Modeling Dam-Break Flows Using Finite Volume Method on Unstructured Grid

Abstract

This study aims to develop a robust, accurate, and computationally efficient numerical model for dam-break flows. The model is based on the finite volume method on an unstructured triangular grid. The intercell flux is computed by the HLL approximate Riemann solver. The model employs the form of the shallow water equations in which the effects of pressure and gravity are included in one source term. Such a choice can simplify the computation and eliminate numerical imbalance between source and flux terms. The accuracy and computational efficiency of the newly developed model are demonstrated through several test problems, including oblique hydraulic jump, a laboratory partial dam-break case, and a real-life dam-break case. It is found that the model is robust and capable of accurately predicting dam-break flows that may occur over complicated terrain and involve subcritical flows, supercritical flows, and transcritical flows.

Two-dimensional numerical modeling of flood wave propagation in an urban area due to Ürkmez dam-break, İzmir, Turkey

“…It is a simple volume conservation model and has a number of components to simulate street flow, buildings and obstructions, sediment transport, spatially variable rainfall and infiltration, floodways and many other flooding details. The unsteady flow equations in two dimensions also solved by the FLO-2D model can be expressed as follows (Ying et al 2009):…”

“…There have been also numerical modeling studies of flood wave propagation in floodplain mostly in one dimension (Li et al 1991;Bellos and Hrissanthou 1998;Yanmaz et al 2001;Bozkus 2003;Macchione 2008;Petaccia et al 2008;Froehlich 2008;Bozkus 2009;Tsakiris and Spilliotis 2013;Bosa and Petti 2013) and few in two dimensions (Brufau et al 2002;Ying et al 2009;Singh et al 2011;Qi and Altinakar 2012;Mahdizadeh et al 2012). Alcrudo and Mulet (2007), Pilotti et al (2011), andMoramarco et al (2014) simulated historical dam-break flows, predicting inundated areas using data on geometric properties of dam, land use and topography.…”

Numerical simulation of water entry of different arbitrary bow sections

“…More realistic solutions may be acquired by advanced numerical methods such as volume of fluid (VOF). Recently, some researchers have applied VOF to solve nonlinear free surface problems , , Hargreaves et al (2007), Ying et al (2009), Wang andWang (2010) and Rahaman et al (2013).…”

Numerical Model and Software for Simulation and Visualization of Flooding in the Urban Area

“…The most of researchers selected to use the finite volume method for the water flow simulation. For the finite volume method, [8] developed a robust, accurate and computationally efficient numerical model to solve shallow water equations, and finite volume method based on triangular grid is used, while [2] studied the finite volume method to solve shallow water equations and Godunov- type method based on the approximate Riemann solver is used to compute the flux function.…”