Analytical and Numerical Study of Novel Scaling Laws for Air-Water Flows

Catucci, Daniele; Briganti, Riccardo; Heller, Valentin

Abstract

Physical modelling in the laboratory is widely used for hydraulic investigations. Froude similarity results in significant scale effects in small models for flows involving air-entrainment. Such air-water flows are essential for many hydraulic applications and physical processes including spillways, hydraulic jumps, wave breaking and plunging jets. A modern approach to achieve similarity between a model and its prototype is based on the derivation of self-similar conditions from the governing equations. Catucci et al. (2021) derived a set of novel scaling laws for phenomena involving air entrainment in water, i.e. where gravity, inertial, viscous and surface tension forces are important. They validated numerically that these novel scaling laws result in self-similarity, i.e. there are no scale effects between the model and its prototype. Their numerical simulations were conducted by using interFoam, a Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations solver based on the Volume of Fluid method with the air-water interface scheme MULES. In the last decade, various alternative interface schemes have been developed to improve the definition of the interface without introducing numerical errors. For example, isoAdvector based on the iso-surfaces appears to produce a better sharpness of the free surface. The aim of this work is to generalise the findings of Catucci et al. (2021) by validating the novel scaling laws for dam break flows by using both interFoam and interIsoFoam, i.e. the solver relying on isoAdvector. The results show that self-similarity is guaranteed regardless of the used interface scheme and the validation of Catucci et al. (2021) is robust in this regard.

Citation

Catucci, D., Briganti, R., & Heller, V. (2022, June). Analytical and Numerical Study of Novel Scaling Laws for Air-Water Flows. Presented at 39th IAHR World Congress (Granada, 2022), Granada, Spain

• Presentation Conference Type: Edited Proceedings
• Conference Name: 39th IAHR World Congress (Granada, 2022)
• Start Date: Jun 19, 2022
• End Date: Jun 24, 2022
• Acceptance Date: Jun 19, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022
• Deposit Date: Jan 8, 2024
• Publisher: International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research
• Pages: 4551-4560
• Book Title: Proceedings of the 39th IAHR World Congress (Granada, 2022)
• ISBN: 9789083261218
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3850/IAHR-39WC252171192022202
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/27874174
• Publisher URL: https://www.iahr.org/library/infor?pid=21287