Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF THREE DIMENSIONAL DAM-BREAK FLOWS

Azim Shirdeli, Vahid Naderkhanloo and Ali Samadi Rahim

Abstract

The numerical model can be used to predict flood wave propagation and provide the information about the flood properties. The purpose of this paper is to presents simulation of dam-break problem by three dimensional model of Mike3 Flow Model FM. The model is verified with laboratory experimental test case on a frictionless horizontal bottom for water surface elevation in five benchmark points. A good agreement between experimental data and simulation results is observed. The computed arrival time of the flood wave front and the maximum flow depths at various observation points matched well with the measurements on physical model. Also, turbulence modeling does not affect the velocity profile in the upstream reservoir, but has significant influence on the prediction of downstream velocity; the velocity magnitude at a specific location changes with time, but the shape of the velocity profiles remains similar. Therefore, the Mike3 model can correctly account for complex dam-break flows and giving a satisfactory prediction of the major characteristics such as water depth, flood extent, flood wave arrival time and velocity profiles. The results indicate that this model can be applied for simulation of dam-break problem in real life cases.