OPEN-CHANNEL FLOW OVER SUBMERGED OBSTRUCTIONS - AN EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL STUDY

This paper reports on experimental and computational investigations of waterflow over two-dimensional obstacles in an open channel. Both tri angular and semi-circular obstacles are considered in order to study t he effects of obstacle type and size on the flow. The upstream flow is subcritical while the downstream flow is supercritical in all the cas es discussed The results of the experiments indicate that the downstre am Reynolds number increases and appears to approach an asymptotic val ue as the obstacle height is increased The upstream Reynolds number, o n the other hand, decreases linearly as the obstacle height is increas ed. For the cases involving triangular obstacles, comparisons are pres ented between the results of the experimental measurements and the com putational simulations as well as with available analytical solutions for inviscid flow. The comparisons point to the conclusion that the fl uid rotational activity has a negligible effect on the overall flow in the open channel.