Romanian Journal of Ecology & Environmental Chemistry
RJEEC Magazine Logo

Modeling of broad crested weirs by using dynamic similarity and CFD


Authors: ALI YILDIZ, GOKNUR ELIF YARBASI, ALPASLAN YARAR, ALI IHSAN MARTI

Keywords: Broad crested weirs, Froude similarity, hydraulic similitude, steps
https://doi.org/10.21698/rjeec.2020.212

Broad crested weirs and steps are used to regulate the flow in the channel, increase the water level at the upstream side and measure the discharge. The construction of the broad crested weirs is more practical and also they are more stable compared with the other types of weirs. In order to serve in accordance with the purpose of their construction, broad crested weirs should be designed and built by considering certain criteria. Before the hydraulic structures are built, model experimental setups are constructed in the laboratory and problems to be encountered are tried to be determined. However there may be differences between the structure to be built in real life (prototype) and model due to scale effect. These possible differences must be determined and necessary measures must be taken. In this study, the model and prototype of the broad crested weir are constructed in two different open channel systems by using Froude similarity. Geometric similarity between model and prototype is determined as Lr=4. A total of 44 experimental data were collected from model and prototype. The results obtained from model and prototype are compared according to hydraulic similarity rules. In addition to the physical experimental setups, numerical models were created using the ANSYS Fluent for the model and prototype separately. By comparing numerical model and physical experimental setups optimum mesh size is tried to be determined. According to the results obtained from experimental setups, differences were observed in the position of critical flow depths and downstream water levels due to scale effects