SIMULATION OF CURVED OPEN CHANNEL FLOWS BY 3D

HYDRODYNAMIC MODEL

By Jian Yel and J. A. McCorquodale,2 Member, ASCE

ABSTRACT: A mathematical model of three-dimensional (3D) free surface flows has been applied to simulate
the curved channel flows and mass transport. In the horizontal plane, a channel-fitted curvilinear coordinate
system is used, whereas in the vertical plane, the a-transformation is adopted to track the free surface and
variable bed topography. To reduce the numerical diffusion, the second-order upwind scheme of Roe is incor-
porated to discretize the convection terms. The standard k-e model has been modified to take account of some
anisotropic effects appearing in shallow curved channels, i.e., streamline curvature and the damping effects of
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free surface and solid walls. The governing equations are solved in a collocated grid system by a fractional
three-step implicit algorithm. Two test cases from curved flumes have been studied: (1) A 270 channel bend
0

with a sloped outer bank; and (2) a meandering channel with mass transport. The results are compared with the
available data, which shows generally good agreement.

INTRODUCTION bed topography. The free surface is updated in a time-march-

Prediction of momentum and mass transport in curved chan-
nels is important for environmental hydraulic engineering. In
bends, centrifugal forces generate secondary currents and su-
perelevation of the water surface, which result in the three-
dimensional (3D) helicoidal flow patterns and, subsequently,
influence the flow behavior and mass transport (Chang 1992).
The magnitudes of these pressure-driven secondary currents
can be up to 10-40% of the bulk streamwise velocity (De-
muren 1991).
Many researches have been carried out on curved channel
flows, but the 3D nature of the curved channel flow phenom-
enon is still not well understood and is difficult to analyze
mathematically. Experimental and/or analytical studies were
conducted by Yen (1965), Chang (1971). Krishnappan and Lau
(1977). De Vriend (1981). Steffler (1984), Hicks (1985), Od-
gaard (1986), Johannesson and Parker (1989). and Chang
(1992). Various 3D numerical models have been used in sim-
ulating curved channel flows, notably Leschziner and Rodi
(1979), De Vriend (1981), Galmes et al. (1984). Demuren and
Rodi (1986), Shimizu et aI. (1990). Demuren (1993), and oth-
ers. The model of Demuren (1993) adopted a general curvi-
linear coordinate system to overcome some limitations of the
previous models (Leschziner et al. 1979; Demuren and Rodi
1986) and to extend the model's capability to handle the nat-
ural bed topography. Most of these 3D models employed the
rigid lid concept for the free surface treatment, which means
that the free surface has to be prescribed before computation.
As i~dic~ted ?y Leschziner and Rodi (1979), the rigid lid ap-
proXimatIOn Introduces certain errors, especially in strongly
curved open channel flows.
Recently, a 3D hydrodynamic model with a collocated grid
arrangement has been developed to simulate the free surface
turbulent flows (Ye and McCorquodale 1996). The model em-
ployed the curvilinear coordinate transformation, Le., a curved
channel-fitted coordinate system in horizontal x-y-plane, and a
a-coordinate in z-direction to track both the free surface and
IAutomotive R&D Ctc., Chrysler Canada Ltd., 3939 Rhodes Dr., P.O.
Box 1621, CIMS: 242-01-01, Windsor, Ontario, Canada N9A 4H6; for-
merly, Dept. of Civ. and Envir. Engrg. and Great Lakes Inst. for Envir.
Res., Univ. of Windsor, Canada N9B 3P4.
'Prof.• Dept. of Civ. and Envir. Engrg.• Univ. of New Orleans, New
Orleans, LA 70148-2210.
Note. Discussion ~pen until December 1, 1998. To extend the closing
date one month, a wntten request must be filed with the ASCE Manager
of Journals. The manuscript for this paper was submitted for review and
possible publication on November 4, 1996. This paper is part of the
Jour,",l of Hydraulic Engineering, Vol. 124, No.7, July, 1998. @ASCE,
ISSN 0733-9429/98/0007-0687 -0698/$8.00 + $.50 per page. Paper No.
14501.
ing procedure. The second-order upwind scheme of Roe
(1981) has been incorporated in the code to eliminate numer-
ical diffusion. The fractional three-step implicit algorithm has
been applied to handle the velocity-pressure-depth coupling
problem of free surface incompressible fluid flows.
Turbulence models have been used extensively for the an-
alytical studies of turbulent flows in engineering. Among these
models, the k-e model is the most widely employed two-equa-
tion turbulence model. However, the standard k-e model
(Launder and Spalding 1974) based on an isotropic eddy vis-
cosity assumption appears to be deficient in predicting flows
of complex turbulent shear layers, e.g., the flows with signif-
icant streamline curvature and free surface that are common
in hydraulic engineering (Cokljat and Younis 1995). In this
study, a simpl~ yet efficient modified k-e model has been pro-
posed to take Into account some anisotropic influences caused
by streamline curvature, free surface, and solid walls. The al-
gebr~c ~ddy viscosity .expressions have been formulated by
consldenng the streamlIne curvature effects in the horizontal
plane by the procedure of Leschziner and Rodi (1981) and the
damping effects of free surface and solid walls in vertical di-
rection by the approach of Naot and Rodi (1982).
In the present paper, the 3D hydrodynamic model has been
used to simulate two typical curved open channel flows. Case
1 is a 2700 channel bend with a sloped outer bank (Hicks
1985)~ and Case 2 is a meandering channel with dye trans-
portatIOn (Chang 1971). The results are compared with the
available data.
GOVERNING EQUATIONS
Governing Equations In Cartesian Coordinates
For a 3D turbulent flow of an incompressible Newtonian
fluid with the Boussinesq eddy viscosity approximation, the
unsteady governing equations (x, y, z) Cartesian coordinates
are as follows:
Continuity equation:
au avow
-+-+-=0 (1)
ax ay az
Momentum equations;
au +auu
- - +avu
- awu -a ( v -au) +-
a ( au)
ay + -az= ax
at ax .h ax ay v .h -ay
+~
az
(v.v au)
az
_ ap
iJx (2)

JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING / JULY 1998/887

J. Hydraul. Eng., 1998, 124(7): 687-698

 whereas a == 1 to the bottom (z = Zb)' In the new coordinate
-av
at
+ -auv
ax
+ -avv
ay
+ -awv =-a ( V. -av) + -aya ( V.h-
az ax h ax
av)
ay system, the velocities are defined as

+ i. (v.v av) _ ap U = uy" - vx,,; V = vx( - uy( (6a,b)

az az ay (3) Da aCT aCT aCT aCT
W=-=-+u-+v-+w-
Dt at ax ay az

=-H1 [ (l - CT) -aH 1 Vz,,) - w ]

at + -J (Uz ( + (7)

=
where U, V contravariant velocities that are perpendicular
to the 11, ~-curvilinear coordinates, respectively.
where u, v, w = velocity components in the horizontal x-, yo, By the chain rule, the governing equations can be expressed
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and vertical z-directions, respectively; g = gravity force; V.h = in a nonorthogonal curvilinear coordinate system. The Carte-
VIII + v, V. = V tv + v (where V'h, V tv = the turbulent viscosities
V
sian velocity components (u, v, w) are retained as dependent
which reflect the anisotropy effects in the horizontal and ver- variables in the momentum equations. The conservative fonn
tical direction, respectively, v = fluid kinematic viscosity); P of the equations are as follows:
= water kinetic pressure (pressure divided by fluid density); Continuity equation:
and t = time.
The free surface is denoted by H + Zb (where H = water aHJ + aHU + aHV + aHJW = 0
depth and Zb = bed elevation). The total pressure P at any at a~ a11 aa
(8)
position (x, y, z) can be subdivided into (1) the hydrostatic
component, i.e., Po + g(H + Zb - z), where Po = the free Momentum equations:
surface kinetic pressure; and (2) the residual hydrodynamic
component p, i.e., p = P - Po - g(H + Zb - z).
The momentum equations of (2)-(4) can be written in a
general fonn of a balance of convection, diffusion, and source
tenn S: as follows:

acJ> + aucJ> + avcf> + awcJ> =.2- (r acJ» + .2- (roM aa)

at ax ay az ax oM ax ay ay

+ :z (r~v ~~) + s: (5a)

(9)
where The expressions of el, 13, 'Y, etc., the diffusion coefficients r ~,
ap ap ap ) r ~'" and source tenns S~ for u, v, w can be found in Appendix
(s*" ' S*v , s*) = ( --
W ax' --
ay' --
az - g (5b) I.
Integrating the continuity equation (8) over the depth leads
to the following equation to detennine the location of the free
Governing Equations in Curvilinear Coordinates surface:
Fig. 1 shows the general curvilinear coordinate system. In aHJ + aHO + aHV = 0
the x-y-plane, a boundary-fitted nonorthogonal coordinate (~, (10)
at a~ aT)
11) is introduced to represent the natural irregular geometry as
~ = ~(x, y), 11 = 11(X, y). In the vertical (z-direction), a a- where the overbars on U, V denote depth-averaged values of
coordinate is defined as a = (H + Zb - z)IH, (0 ::;; a ::;; 1 A U,V.
Zb ::;; Z ::;; H + Zb)' The a-transfonnation is an economical The mass transport equation has the same fonn as (9) with
way to represent the movement of a singe-valued free surface
flow (Stelling and Van Kester 1994). In the computational do- cJ> = c: reh =-Vth + v, rev =- + v;
V,,,
Se = HJS~ (lla,b)
main, a == 0 corresponds to the water surface (z = H + Zb), a c a c

a" a SURFACE

a- 1 B02'2'OH
z

~(x,y)

FIG. 1. Coordinate System

688/ JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING / JULY 1998

J. Hydraul. Eng., 1998, 124(7): 687-698

 where a c = turbulent Schmidt number for the neutral density
concentration C; S~ = source term for C. In this study, a c is
equal to 0.9 that corresponds to flows near a wall (Launder
and Spalding 1972).
Turbulence Modeling
The turbulent eddy viscosities and diffusivities in the mo-
mentum and mass transport equations are determined by tur-
bulence modeling. The k-E turbulence model based on an iso-
tropic eddy viscosity hypothesis is widely used because of its
relative simplicity with reasonable accuracy for many situa-
tions (Rodi 1984). For shallow curved open channel flows, the
anisotropic effects induced by streamline curvature, free sur-
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In open channel flows, experiments have shown that the
vertical momentum exchange rate decreases rapidly near the
free surface and the bottom partly because of their damping
effects; whereas the damping effects have a much smaller in-
fluence on the horizontal diffusion (Naot and Rodi 1982) and
have been neglected here, In curved channel flows, the pres-
sure-driven secondary currents are of prime importance com
pared with the turbulence-driven ones. The influences of the
free surface and the bottom in the present cases are considered
by a simple expression based on the ASM of Naot and Rodi
(1982) as
(14)

face, and solid walls significantly affect the turbulence struc-

ture and subsequently influence the flow pattern. Moreover, and
the mass transport is a convection-diffusion-dominated pro-
cess, which is sensitive to anisotropic effects and thus to tur-
bulence modeling, The standard k-E model lacks the capacity CI =1.5-0.5il; il=(~r i2=(~r ZI=\~rlf2 (l5a-d)
to model these anisotropic phenomena when turbulence plays
an important role in the flows, because of the isotropic eddy
viscosity concept employed. To overcome this defect, various
Z2 = \(H ~ d) -1f2 + 0.3162L; L = (5f) 12: (15eJ')
approaches can be made. The first approach is to obtain the
where L = dissipation length; and Zit Z2 = root-mean-squared
unknown turbulent stresses directly by the application of more reciprocal distances from the solid walls and free surface, re-
complex stress models, e.g., the Reynolds stress model (RSM)
spectively. In the simplified ASM of Naot and Rodi (1982),
and the algebraic stress model (ASM) (Rodi 1984). Naot and
(14) (where X = 1) was proposed to handle the damping effects
Rodi (1982) utilized an ASM model for open-channel flows
on the vertical transport of momentum due to free surface and
to simulate turbulence-driven secondary motion. Another ap-
solid walls for the prediction of secondary currents driven by
proach is the replacement of the isotropic eddy viscosity by a
turbulence in a straight open channel, Considering some of the
more realistic representation (Cokljat and Younis 1995), such
simplifications made in Naot and Rodi's model (Demuren
as the one with an anisotropic second-order tensor used in the
1991) and to improve agreement with the experimental data,
k-E-S model (Ye and Dou 1990). In the present general cur-
vilinear coordinate system, application of these two ap- the parameter X is optimized to 0.8 in this study. Applications
in the latter section show that the present approach is adequate
p~oaches would be very difficult and computationally expen-
for the shallow-curved open channel flows by taking account
sive because of the complexity of the transformation. The third
of both streamline curvature and free surface and solid walls
way is to either empirically introduce new terms and/or dif-
damping effect. It is efficient and suitable for the proposed
ferent modeling constants into the transport equations of tur-
complex 3D model.
bulence (Launder et al. 1977; Galmes and Lakshminarayana
1983), or alternatively, incorporate algebraic formulations for The transport equations of turbulent kinetic energy k and its
the turbulent viscosity simplified from ASM or RSM, like the dissipation rate E have the same form as (9) with ah, a'" and r r
Sa expressed as follows:
models of Leschziner and Rodi (1981) and Cheng and Farokhi
(1992). The present study uses the latter approach of algebraic
a = k: r kh = -V,h + v,
r tv = -v,. + v; St = Hi(G - E) (l6a,b)
modification of the turbulent viscosity as a practical and eco- at at
nomical way to model these anisotropic effects,
In the present shallow curved open channel flows, it can be V,h
a=E: r rJr=-+V' •• =-+V
r v,. (l7a)
assumed that streamline curvature mainly affects the horizontal a. a.
plane, ~hereas free surface and solid wall damping effects
mostly mfluence the vertical direction, The standard k-E model
is simply modified by introducing two coefficients to take ac- S. =Hi ( C ~ G 1 - C2 f) (l7b)
count of the anisotropic influences
where C.. = 0.09, C1 = 1.44, C2 = 1.92, at = 1.0, a. = 1.3,
v, = C..~/E; V,h = ihV,; v,. = i.v, (12a-c) and G = production of the turbulent kinetic energy (Rodi
where v, = isotropic turbulent viscosity calculated by the stan- 1984),
dard k-~ model; fi, = modification coefficient dealing with the
streamlIne curvature effect in the horizontal plane; and i. = NUMERICAL PROCEDURE
coefficient for the damping effects in the vertical direction The governing equations are solved by using the fractional
caused by free surface and all solid boundaries. three-step implicit algorithm proposed by Ye and Mc-
The streamline curvature effect ih is expressed as Corq~odale (.1 996) t~ handle ~e velocity-pressure-water depth
I couplIng. This techmque prOVides relatively simpler pressure
J,. = (l3) and depth correction procedures than that of the SIMPLEC
1 + 0,57 ~2 (OUs + Us) US algorithm (Van Doormaal and Raithby 1984) for nonorthog-
E on R R onal grids in 3D cases. The framework of the algorithm is as
where Us = longitudinal velocity component; n = normal dis- follows:
tance from the wall; and R = local radius of curvature of the
streamline. Eq. (13) was derived by Leschziner and Rodi Step 1. Convection-diffusion process ~ U n + 1I3 , v n+ I13 , w n+ l13
(1981) from the ASM for two-dimensional flows with stream- Step 2. Hydrostatic propagation process ~ H'+ I un + 2J3
V"+213, W"+213 ' ,
line curvature correction and applied by some researchers for
simulations of curved channels, e.g., Demuren and Rodi Step 3. Hydrodynamic propagation process ~ pn+1 un + 1
V"+l, W"+l ' ,
(1986).
JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING / JULY 1998/889

J. Hydraul. Eng., 1998, 124(7): 687-698

 In the preceding steps the superscript n + 1 refers to the time wall function is adopted because it was regarded as superior
level (n + 1)at, etc., while the superscripts n + 1/3, n + 2/3 to the conventional log-law wall function (Ye and Dou 1990;
are symbolic of the intermediate variables between steps. The Ye 1992).
following primed quantities are defined for convenience as [(u, Variables are nondimensionalized as
v, w) = (u" U2, U3)' (U, V, W) = (U" U 2, U 3)]
u; = u7+ 213
-
113 213
=
U7+ ; U; = U7+ - U7+ 113 ; u;' utI - u7+213
(lSD-c)
where U* = friction velocity; and y is the distance from the
U7 = U7+ 1 - U7+ 213 ; H' = H"+1 - H"; p' = p"+1 - p" (l8d-f) wall. In the refined wall function, the velocity normal to the
wall is set to zero, whereas the near wall tangential velocities,
where i = 1, 2, 3. calculated from the momentum equations, are related to the
In the propagation steps, an implicitness coefficient n (n = wall shear stress Tw (=p~) by a universal profile of mean
0.5-1) is introduced for spatial derivatives to accelerate the velocity (Dou 1986). For smooth walls, it is expressed as
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rate of convergence to a steady state (Ye and McCorquodale

1996, 1997a). The working equations of the fractional algo-
rithm can be found in Appendix II. u+ = 2.5 In(1 + 0.2y+) + 7.05 ( 0.2y+ +)2
1 + 0.2y
The working equations of each step are solved by using the
control volume based finite difference method. In Step 1, the + 25 ( 0.2y+ )
equation of convection-diffusion process is discretized in a . 1 + 0.2y+ (l9)
standard manner, as described by Patankar (1980). To over-
come the deficiency of numerical diffusion associated with the Eq. (19) was in good agreement with experiments in all
first-order upwind schemes, e.g., hybrid and power-law regions (viscous sublayer, buffer layer, and fully turbulent re-
schemes (Patankar 1980), the second-order upwind scheme of gion) (Dou 1986). The near wall k+, E+ are expressed by the
Roe (1981) has been incorporated in the code to discretize the analyses of experimental data
convection terms. Roe's scheme is chosen here because of its
outstanding performance in shockwave capture and relatively 8 =du+ = 1 + 0.02(23.2 - y+)y+ (20)
simple form (Tamamidis and Assanis 1993). Applications dy+ 1 + 0.2y+ (l + 0.2y+)3
showed that the accuracy of predictions could be improved by
Roe's scheme where the convective effects play an important k+ = 11.6+y+
0.75y+ + 0.2327y+28 2. £+ =f.8(l - 8)
role (Ye and McCorquodale 1996, 1997a,b). The other spatial (21a,b)
,
terms are estimated by central differences of second-order ac-
curacy. A nonstaggered grid is used in combining with 3D f. =1 - 0.25 exp[ -0.025(y+ - 20)] + 0.2 exp[ -0.05(y+ - 10)2]
curvilinear coordinates to save the memory and central pro- (22)
cessing unit time. The revised momentum interpolation pro-
cedure of Majumdar (1988) is adopted to avoid checkerboard The performance of this refined wall function [(19)-(22)] was
oscillations that usually accompany nonstaggered variable ar- demonstrated through a number of typical test cases (Ye 1992)
rangement, because the converged solution of this method is that showed the predictions can be improved with the refined
independent of the relaxation parameter (or time step at in the wall function where turbulence generation caused by wall
unsteady approach). shear stress plays an important role.
The algebraic equation sets are solved sequentially by using The normal gradient of C, aC/an, is set to zero at the solid
the tridiagonal matrix algorithm on a grid line, as illustrated boundaries.
by Patankar (1980). The convergence criterion adopted is that At the free surface, the normal gradients of u, v, C, k are
the nondimensional total mass residuals for both the 3D con- zero. By the definition of W in (6), the boundary condition of
tinuity equation (8) and the depth-averaged form (10) be less W, w at the free surface «J
== 0 or z = H + Zb) can be deter-
than certain values. The transport equations of k, E, and C can mined as
be solved in the same manner as the equation of convection-
diffusion process of Step 1. The details of the present numer- W =0; w = aH + .! [u a(H + Zb) + V a(H + Zb)] (23a,b)
ical procedure are illustrated in Ye and McCorquodale (1996). at J De D'l1

BOUNDARY CONDITIONS An empirical relation for E by Rodi (1984) is used to ac-

At the inlet, uniform distributions for all the dependent var-
iables 4> (velocities, k, E, C) are prescribed. At the downstream
outlet, the normal gradients of all dependent variables are set
to zero, i.e., a4>/an = O. In this study, the outlet station is
located at the same position as or further downstream than in
the experiments. The water elevation H + Zb and hydrody-
namic pressure p at all the boundaries, except the water ele-
vation condition at the outlet, are obtained by linear extrapo-
count for the damping effects on turbulence due to the pres-
ence of free surfaces, i.e., E = 5.87kl. s/H for the cases without
wind-induced shear at the free surface.
RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
The proposed model has been applied to typical curved
channel flows for which detailed measurements are available.
0

lation from the values at the interior nodes. H + Zb at the
outlet is given.
In the vicinity of the solid walls and bed, the variations of
flow properties are steep. To avoid the need for detailed cal-
culations in the near wall region of low-turbulent Reynolds
number, the wall-function method is employed to simulate the
wall effect and estimate the values of k, E at the near wall
nodes (Rodi 1984). The wall-function method, which allows
the use of a fairly coarse grid in the near wall region, is an
economical way of turbulent flow modeling. Here the refined
690 I JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING I JULY 1998
Case 1 is a 270 open channel bend with a 2: 1 sloped outer
bank (Hicks 1985); Case 2 is a meandering channel (Chang
1971).
Case 1
Hicks (1985) measured the distribution of velocities and tur-
bulent fluctuations in a hydraulic smooth, 2700 open channel
bend with a laser Doppler anemometer. The purpose was to
examine the developing flow near a sloped bank in a smooth

J. Hydraul. Eng., 1998, 124(7): 687-698

 curved channel, including the effect of varying side slope. The Sec.3
outer bank slope of half trapezoidal shape was selected be-
cause it is more realistic than the rectangle shape used by most
researchers (Hicks 1985). Fig. 2(a) shows the flume layout,
which consisted of a 13.4-m-long entrance section, a 17.2-m
curved segment covering an arc of 2700 (the centerline radius
is R = 3.65 m), and 2.4-m straight exit section. One of the
side slopes at the outer bank is 2:1, which is considered here
[Fig. 2(b)]. The width at the top of the channel is B = 1.0668 -+-I-+-t-Sec.2
m, while the width at the bottom is 0.8658 m. A total of nine
runs were conducted but only the results of Run A6 are used
here. The hydraulic loading for Run A6 is Q = 0.022 m 3/s with
a constant downstream depth HI =0.062 m. The bulk velocity
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V o = 0.37 m1s and the Froude number F = V/(gH I)o.3 = 0.475.

The experiments showed that within the bend, the velocities
and shear stresses increased significantly on the sloped bank.
The 3D model was applied with the 89 X 27 X 10 non-
uniformly distributed segments in ~, 11, a-directions, respec- Sec.1 1 (a)
tively. The sizes of the control volumes in the physical plane
are in the range of 0.19-0.3 m in longitudinal direction and
0.033-0.07 m in lateral direction with denser grids in the
sloped outer and inner bank sides. Uniform distribution of a L-L
(~a = 0.1) is prescribed in the vertical. The effect of the bend 533.4

'~ J
probably extends to the end of the downstream straight reach.
The model simulated the same straight section (2.25B) as the
experiment. The other parameters are n = 0.85 and ~t = 0.6
s. After 1,000 time steps, the simulation terminates when the
~I.
Ll" 865.8
nondimensional overall mass residual for the 3D continuity
equation (8) is less than 6.0 X 10-4 and that for the depth- B=1066.8
averaged form (14) is less than 4.4 X 10- 3 • It is obvious that I· -I
the a-transformation is most suitable in the present case due (b)
to its capacity of fitting both the free surface and the sloped
outer bank. The results of velocity vector fields, distribution FIG. 2. Flume Layout and Dimensions (Unit: mm): (a) Plan
of longitudinal and lateral velocities, and turbulence intensities View; (b) Channel Section with 2:1 Side Slope

.
(a)
i •i •
o 0.2 mil

\ ttl
FIG. 3. Velocity Vector Fields at: (a) Surface; (b) Cross Section 3

JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING / JULY 1998/691

J. Hydraul. Eng., 1998, 124(7): 687-698

 * data (Hicks, 1985) - simulation

o 1
Sec. 1

~.~} 1..2 1.2 ..2 dJ

ru
Sec.2

~e. n.] I. J I.,)

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ru
Sec.3

~~.,J] .J .J
Sec.4

~c]
FIG. 4. Comparlaon of Longitudinal Velocity Component (uIUo) Distribution

-tc data - simulation

0 0.4

~
sij
1 'i\ \\
sec~
~ **::+;: :s;: 'h:
S8CjJ
~ .*~ 'b '5b:
s{j
~ '4;: 'b: s: FIG. 5. Comparlaon of Lateral Velocity Component (vlUo) Distribution

are shown in Figs. 3-8 at the four typical locations along the
channel and compared with the data of Hicks (1985) and Hicks
et aI. (1990). Because the experiments were taken perpendic-
ular to the slope on the outer bank, while the vertical a-co-
ordinate is used in modeling, some discrepancies are expected
along the sloped bank.
Figs. 3(a) and 3(b) give the surface velocity vector field and
a typical secondary current at Section 3, respectively. The sim-
ulation shows that the velocity increases continuously along
the sloped outer bank in the bend. The secondary currents that
move toward the inner bank at the bottom and toward the outer
bank at the top, bring fluid with relatively low longitudinal
momentum toward the center portion of the channel causing
a lower velocity at the surface and the maximum velocity to
lie below the water surface. The model reproduces this phe-
692/ JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING / JULY 1998
nomenon and is in satisfactory agreement with the experi-
mental data for the longitudinal and lateral velocities as shown,
respectively, in Figs. 4 and 5. A notable disparity appears at
Section 1 at the entrance of the bend. The data of Hicks (1985)
indicated that the secondary current starts upstream of the
curve, whereas the model shows that the secondary current
starts to develop just at the entrance of the curve; both the
model and the experimental data show a higher initial strength
near the inner bank. Fig. 5 also indicates that the simulated
secondary current initially developed near the bottom (Section
1) and moved toward the inner bank because of the super-
elevation extended upstream, and the net lateral (depth-aver-
aged) flow is relatively small. This is consistent with other
computations [e.g., Leschziner and Rodi (1979), Demuren and
Rodi (1986) with two-equation turbulence models] and some

J. Hydraul. Eng., 1998, 124(7): 687-698

 '¢t data proposed model -- standard k-E model

o 1 Longitudinal velocity component (u /Uo )

o 0.4 Lateral velocity component (v /Uo )

~_'*S;:_'*:g;:_~*:+;: d
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FIG. 6. Comparison of Velocity Distributions at Section 3 by Different Models

t:. data simulation

0 0.2
Sec. 1

~t 1\& IT [I
Sec.2
rn
~C 11. 1\. 1\.. lIi
Sec.3

~\:. 1\. [X. 1\:. [1

Sec.4

~l.. FIG. 7.
I\,~
Comparison of Turbulence Intensity y;;'i/Uo Distribution
experiments [e.g., Chang (1971); Steffler (1984)]. The mea-
surement, however, illustrated that the secondary motion at the
entrance is strong near the free surface and away from the
inner bank, which could indicate that there was some distur-
bance upstream of the entrance in the experiments. Despite the
aforementioned discrepancy, the model predicted the overall
behavior of the velocity fields once the spiral motion devel-
oped, Le., at Sections 2-4.
Fig. 6 shows the velocity distributions at Section 3 obtained
by the standard k-e model and the proposed modification. The
standard k-e model underpredicted the pressure-driven second-
ary currents, which results in the discrepancy in the longitu-
dinal velocity distribution compared with the measured data.
Fig~ and ~ompare the distribution of turbulence inten-
sities U,2 and V,2, respectively, with the measurements. The
agreement is generally very close, except in the vicinity of the
bed where-!Qe simulations are not able to capture the peak
values of U,2 due in part to insufficient grid density in that
area. Another discrepancy appears at Sections 3 and 4 in the
sloped bank where the distributions of U,2 have been smoothed
by the simulations but the depth-averaged values are similar
to the experiment, as illustrated in Fig, 7,
[\M. 1\.
[j
Case 2
A series of experiments in meander channels was conducted
by Chang (1971) in which both the flow and a neutrally buoy-
ant pollutant transport were measured. The channels with hy-
draulic smooth bed and walls and rectangular cross sections
had unifonn 90° bends in alternating directions interconnected
by straight reaches, One of the single meander channels is
illustrated in Fig. 9 with the water depth h = 0.115 m and bulk
velocity Uo = 0.366 mis, The measurements were carried out
along the second bend of the channel from Sections 1 to 13.
Demuren and Rodi (1986) employed a 3D mathematical
model with cylindrical coordinates to calculate this meander-
ing flow. Some simplifications were made, e.g., the "rigid lid"
approximation was used to deal with the free surface problem;
all diffusion tenns in longitudinal direction were neglected.
Comparison with the measurements showed generally good
agreement, but the 3D concentration field which is more sen-
sitive to turbulent diffusivity was not reported, and the cylin-
drical coordinates have limited applicability.
As indicated in Fig. 9, the straight exit section after the
second bend was relatively short in the experiments (-0.918).
JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING / JULY 1998/693

J. Hydraul. Eng., 1998, 124(7): 687-698

 ~ data
0 0.2
~ [j
~\ [J
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~ 1\
~
"'I~'C
1\
FIG. 8. Comparl8on of Turbulencelnten81ty Y;:;,Uo DI8tribution
c:> dye injection site
FIG. 9. Meandering Channel Configuration and Dlmen810n (Unit: m)
To test the sensitivity of the exit length, a longer straight sec-
tion (-2.5B) is used in simulations. Initially, a same grid den-
sity was applied to these two different exit section cases, i.e.,
the meshes of 132 X 26 X 12 (for the longer section, denoted
as AI) and 122 X 26 X 12 (for the shorter section, denoted
as A2) in ~, 11, a-directions, respectively. The sizes of the
control volumes in the physical plane are between 0.26 and
0.36 m and 0.065 and 0.105 m in longitudinal and lateral di-
rections, respectively. Uniform distribution of a (Aa = 0.0833)
is set in vertical. To check grid independence of the solutions,
a fine grid (denoted as Bl) is adopted for the longer exit sec-
tion with the 166 X 44 X 16 nonuniformly distributed seg-
ments in ~, 11, a-directions, respectively. The sizes of the con-
trol volumes in the physical plane are between 0.21 and 0.32
m and 0.021 and 0.065 m in longitudinal and lateral directions,
respectively. A uniform distribution of a (Aa = 0.0625) is
used. In the lateral 11-direction, grids are concentrated near the
side wall regions for all the cases. The other parameters are
n = 0.85 and At = 0.5 s. After 1,000-1,400 time steps, the
solutions are regarded as steady state when the mass residual
for the 3D continuity equation (8) is less than 7.0 X 10-4 and
that for the depth-averaged form (10) is less than 1.1 X 10- 4 •
The computations are performed at A 1 and A2 grids to study
the influence of the length of the straight exit section. Simu-
lations show that the results of the velocity distributions are
894/ JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING / JULY 1998
J. Hydraul. Eng., 1998, 124(7): 687-698
simulation
Sec. 1
11 [) [jj
Sec.2
a 1\ [j
sec~
1\ 1\
Sec~
1\
1\
almost the same (the relative difference is within 1%) because
of the parabolic nature of the flow at the exit in this case.
Comparison of the longitudinal and lateral velocity profiles
at the B1 grid with the measurements at selected locations are
shown in Figs. 10 and 11, respectively. The results at the Al
grid are also presented in comparison of grid independence of
the solutions. It shows that the solutions are quite close. The
maximum relative difference of the simulated velocities at Al
and Bl grids is about 4.5%. The experiments showed that
there exists another smaller counterrotating eddy near the sur-
face at the concave bank of the second bend (Chang 1971), at
Sections 7 and 13 in Fig. 11. It also is notable that there exists
a small counterrotating eddy near the surface at the convex
bank in the single bend experiments of Hicks (1985), as shown
at Section 3 in Fig. 5. This phenomenon may be due to a
hydrodynamic instability similar to the Gortler vortices present
in boundary layers along concave walls, as stated by De
Vriend (1981). The present model could only predict the main
helical motion of secondary currents even with the fine B 1
grid. The possible reasons are that the grid should be further
refined in the longitudinal direction and the complex higher-
order turbulence models would be used. Secondary currents,
especially, are difficult to measure precisely, since they are a
fraction of the main flow velocities. Though some discrepancy
exists, the simulations at the B 1 grid represent the general
 • data (Chang, 1971) - simulation (81) simulation (A1) - - standard k-E
model (A1)

0.174 0.348 0.1l64 0.739 0.912

ea)

0.5

:::t] If 11]) ~J ,I'"

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::rlf 11][][] [1J eCl)

::[J] J[] 1Ol'·'

0.0
o 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0
u/Uo
FIG. 10. Comparison of Longitudinal Velocity Component (uIUo) Distribution at: (a) Section 3; (b) Section 7; (c) Section 11; (d)
Section 13
• data (Chang, 1971) - simulation (81) ........ simulation (A1) - - standard k-E
model (A1)

0.00.1 0.00.1 0.00.1 0.00.1 0.00.1 0.00.1

v/Uo
FIG. 11. Comparison of Lateral Velocity Component (viLla) Distribution at: (a) Section 3; (b) Section 7; (c) Section 11

behavior of the secondary currents and the resultant main
flows with reasonable accuracy. Therefore, the flow field sim-
ulated at the B1 grid is used to calculate the mass transport in
the meandering channel.
Performance of the standard k-e model in the A1 grid is also
carried out and the results at Sections 3 and 7 are presented
in Figs. lO(a), lO(c), II(a), and II(c). The standard k-e model
underpredicts the secondary currents and consequently gen-
erates relatively larger error in the longitudinal velocity distri-
bution.
Because of the centrifugal force effect, the helical motion
carries the flow near free surface toward the concave bank and
that near the bottom toward the convex bank. This process
increases mixing and influences lateral mass transport signif-
icantly in the meandering channel. This 3D effect cannot be
represented properly by two-dimensional models (Demuren
and Rodi 1986; Ye and McCorquodale 1997). As the experi-
ments indicated (Chang 1971), the mixing rate could be up to
an order of eight times higher in a meandering channel com-
pared to an equivalent straight channel. The prediction of the
pollutant concentration distributions is compared with the
measurements of Chang (1971). The case considered was a
dye injection point at the middepth of the centerline and the
entrance to the first bend, as shown in Fig. 9. The development
of the ensuing concentration field was shown and measured
for the second bend.
Considering the initial dilution of the dye injection into the
flume, the 3D model of mass transport has been applied to
JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING / JULY 1998/895

J. Hydraul. Eng., 1998, 124(7): 687-698

 ';l. data - simulation
FIG. 12. Comparison of Depth-Averaged Concentration (ClCo)
Dletrlbutlon
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Sec. 3
::WJJ } /) 1{ (~\
J \
0.0
Sec.9
:]; II// Iff tJ
Sec.11
~O[/
:.:
/ 7j
Ii-Ill
JI I I
Sec. 13
FIG. 13. Measured Concentration (ClCo) Profiles at Various
Sections
obtain the concentration distribution based on the simulated
velocity field. Fig. 12 shows the results of the depth-averaged
concentration distribution, whereas the 3D concentration pro-
files of both the measured and calculated fields are presented
in Figs. 13 and 14, respectively, where Co = cross-channel
averaged concentration. The trend of the nonuniform distri-
bution in vertical is related to the direction of the spiral mo-
tion. The agreement with the experimental data is generally
good with the following two exceptions:
1. There was difficulty in simulating correctly the actual
situation near the discharge port, which contributes some
of the discrepancy; this problem also appeared in the
work of Demuren and Rodi (1986).
2. The experiments showed evidence of a secondary vortex
near the surface at the outer bank of the second bend, as
illustrated in Figs. 13(b) and 13(c), while the simulations
only represent the effect of the main secondary current
patterns on the mass transport, as indicated in Fig. 14.
896/ JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING / JULY 1998
J. Hydraul. Eng., 1998, 124(7): 687-698
Z/H
0.5
0.0 '-----'---'-->---'-_-I-_--l.-_---l._-L-L_-L_...J
Sec. 3
Sec.9
1.0 ,-----,c---,---,--,------r-.,--,...--,---r--n
0.6
Sec.11
I
Sec. 13
FIG. 14. Simulated Concentration (OCo) Profiles at Various
Sections
CONCLUSIONS
A 3D hydrodynamic model of free surface turbulent flows
has been developed to simulate currents and mass transport in
curved channels. The proposed model accounts for the major
3D flow features and their consequent effects on mass trans-
port. The model has the capability to handle an unprescribed
free surface and nonrectangular, nonprismatic practical chan-
nel geometries owing to the applicability of a-transformation.
Algebraic formulations for the horizontal and vertical eddy
viscosities have been used to take account of the streamline
curvature and damping effects of the free surface and solid
boundaries; this, partly, overcomes the drawback of the stan-
dard isotropic k-e model. This modification proved useful in
the present test cases of shallow curved open channel flows;
however, further study is needed to define the general appli-
cability of this conclusion.
The model has been tested by applying it to two typical
curved open channel flows: (1) A single 2700 channel bend
with a sloped outer bank; and (2) a m( andering channel with
pollutant transport. The model results have been compared
with the available data, and the agreement is generally good.
The simulations show that the strength of secondary currents
are much stronger in a single bend than that in meanders due
to the opposite spiral motion generated by the alternate be.Js
of the meandering channels. The lateral mass transport due to
secondary currents in curved channel can be considerable. Fur-
ther studies should be carried out for hydraulically rough beds,
different width-depth ratio channels, and natural rivers.
APPENDIX!.
In (9), the metric tensor components lX, 13, 'Y, etc. are ex-
pressed as
 Step 3. Hydrodynamic propagation process
1 213
1 =x(Y., - x.,Y(; = =<XZ( - 13z,,; = ='Yz" -
q31 q13 q32 q23 I3z(; 1
(Hut+ -

at
(Hut+
= - llH'
+1 (dP' dP')
- Y - - Y
d~" dTJ (
q33 =>"(Y(z" - y.,zi + >"(XM - X.,z()2 + 12;
z(~, TJ, cr, t) = H + Zb - crH (24a-i) (30a)

The diffusion coefficients r~, r ol>v and source terms Sol> of 1 213
+1 (dP'
J (Hvt+ (Hvt+ dP')
-
u, v, ware = - llH' - x - - x
at dTJ ( d~"
<I> =u: f =V. h =Voj>h th + v, f ol>v =v., =v", + v (25a)
dp'
- II dcr (XM - X.,z() (30b)
S. = -H {y., .i- [g(H + Zb) + p] - Y( .!- [g(H + + P]}
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Zb)
o~ dTJ
(HW)"+I - (Hwt+ 213 dp'
-"--~--"---'-- = II - (30e)
at dcr
H'+I - H'+213 o(HUt+ 213 d(HV)n+213 d(HW)"+213
J + + + 1 --'----''----
at O~ dTJ dcr
<I> = v: f oj>h = V.h = Vth + v, fol>v = v.v = v", + v (200)
dHU" dHV" dHW")
+ll ( - - + - - + J - - =0
S. = -H {X( d~ [g(H + Zb) + p] - x., :~ [g(H + Zb) + P]} O~ OTJ dcr (30d)

dP
H'+1 = H'+213 (30e)
- dcr (x M - x.,z() (26b) It is easy to prove that the working equations (29) and (30)
of the present fractional step algorithm are consistent to the
original governing equation set (8)-(10) and (25)-(27) by fol-
lowing the procedure of Yanenko (1971), Le., combining (28)
(when <I> = u), (29a) and (30a) results in (9) (when <I> = u),
Sw =1dP
-
dcr
(27b) etc. The velocity correction (u;, U;), water depth correction
(H'), and the velocity correction (u7, Un, hydrodynamic pres-
sure correction (P') equations can be obtained directly from
APPENDIX II. WORKING EQUATIONS (29) of Step 2 and (30) of Step 3, respectively. This is one of
the main advantages of the present algorithm over the SIM-
The working equations of the fractional algorithm are as PLEC algorithm of Van Doormaal et al. (1984).
follows.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Step 1. Convection-diffusion process
The writers appreciate Dr. F. E. Hicks, University of Alberta, for pro-
I13 viding the original experimental data. This research was supported by the
1 (H<I>r+ - (H<I»" + [(Hu)"<I>n+ll3] + [(Hv)"<I>n+ll3]
at (., Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor,
and the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

+ 1[(Hwt<l>"+II3]a = [¥ (o:<I>~+1I3 - 13<1>~ + ':; <1>:) 1 APPENDIX III. REFERENCES

+ [¥ ('Y<I>~+113 - 13<1>~ + i; <1>:) 1 Chang, H. H. (1992). Fluvial processes in river engineering. Krieger
Publishing Co., Malabar, Fla.
Chang, Y. C. (1971). "Lateral mixing in meandering channels," PhD
thesis, Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.
Cheng, G. C., and Farokhi, S. (1992). "On turbulent flows dominated by
+ [~(>..q
1 31 <1>"( + >..q32.,
<1>" + H' <l>n+II3)] q33
a a
+ S ol> (28)
curvature effects." J. Fluid Engrg., ASME, 114(1), 52-57.
Cokljat, D., and Younis, B. A. (1995). "Second-order closure study of
open-channel flows." J. Hydr. Engrg., ASCE, 121(2),94-105.
where 8"+113 = H n ; and the expressions of Sol> for momentum Demuren, A. O. (1991). "Calculation of turbulence-driven secondary mo-
equations can be found in (25)-(27). tion in ducts with arbitrary cross section." AIAA J., 29(4), 531-537.
Demuren, A. O. (1993). "A numerical model for flow in meandering
Step 2. Hydrostatic propagation process channels with natural bed topography." Water Resour. Res., 29(4),
1269-1277.
(Hut+ 213 - (Hut+l 13 _ _ gH' (dH' _ dH' ) Demuren. A. 0., and Rodi, W. (1986). "Calculation of flow and pollutant
at - II J o~ Y., dTJ Y(
(29a) dispersion in meandering channels." J. Fluid Mech., 172(11),65-92.
De Vriend, H. J. (1981). "Velocity redistribution in curved rectangle
l13 channels." J. Fluid Mech., 107(6),423-439.
(Hvt+
213
- (Hvt+ = -ll gHn (OH' x _ dH' x) (29b)
Dou, G. (1986). "General laws of turbulent flows." Proc., 3rd Int. Symp.
at 1 dTJ ( d~" on River Sedimentation, 47-57.
Fisher, H. B., List, E. J., Koh, R. C. Y., Imberger, J., and Brooks, N. H.
H'+213 - H'+1I3 d(HfJ)n+113 d(HV)"+ll3 (1979). Mixing in inlands and coastal waters. Academic Press, New
1 + + --'----''--- York, N.Y.
at d~ dTJ Galmes, J. M., and Lakshminarayana, B. (1984). "Turbulence modeling
for three-dimensional shear flows over curved rotating bodies." AIAA
dHO'
+ II ( - - + dHV')
-- =0 J., 22(10), 1420-1428.
d~ dTJ (29c) Hicks, F. E. (1985). "Shear and velocity near a sloped bank in a curved
channel," MS thesis, Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, Alta., Canada.
Hicks, F. E., Jin, Y. C., and Steffier, P. M. (1990). "Flow near sloped
(29d) bank in curved channel." J. Hydr. Engrg., ASCE, 116(1), 55-70.

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 Johannesson, H., and Parker, G. (1989). "Velocity redistribution in me-
andering rivers." J. Hydr. Engrg., ASCE, 115(8), 1019-1039.
Krishnappan, B. G., and Lau, Y. L. (1977). "Transverse mixing in me-
andering channels with varying bottom topography." J. Hydr. Res.,
15(4),351-369.
Launder, B. E., Priddin, C. H., and Sharma, B. I. (1977). "The calculation
of turbulent boundary layers on spinning and curved surface." J. Fluid
Engrg., ASME, 99(1), 231-239.
Launder, B. E., and Spalding, D. B. (1972). Lectures in mathematical
models of turbulence. Academic Press, London, England.
Launder, B. E., and Spalding, D. B. (1974). "The numerical computation
of turbulent flows." Compo Methods Appl. Meth. and Engrg., 3,
269-289.
Leschziner, A., and Rodi, W. (1979). "Calculation of strongly curved
open channel flow." J. Hydr. Div., ASCE, 105(10), 1297-1314.
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Ye, J. (1992). "Improvement of wall function in turbulence modelling."
Proc.• 5th Asian Congr. of Fluid Mech.
Ye, J., and Dou, G. (1990). "The investigation of the k-e-s turbulence
model." Proc., 4th Int. Symp. on Refined Flow Modeling and Turbulent
Measurement, 77-84.
Ye, J., and McCorquodale, J. A. (1996). "A 3D free surface hydrody-
namic modelling with curvilinear coordinate collocated grid arrange-
ment." Rep. No. 1996-01, Great Lakes 1nst. for Envir. Res., Univ. of
Windsor, Canada.
Ye, J., and McCorquodale, J. A. (1997a). "Depth-averaged hydrodynamic
model in curvilinear collocated grid." J. Hydr. Engrg., ASCE, 123(5),
380-388.
Ye, J., and McCorquodale, J. A. (1997b). "Three dimensional, numerical
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CSCE, 24, 471-479.

Leschziner, A., and Rodi, W. (1981). "Calculation of annular and twin Yen, B. C. (1965). "Characteristics of subcritical flow in a meandering
parallel jets using various discretisation schemes and turbulence-model channel." Rep., Inst. of Hydr. Res., Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.
variations." J. Fluids Engrg., ASME, 103(2), 352-360.
Majumdar, M. (1988). "Role of underrelaxation in momentum interpo- APPENDIX IV. NOTATION
lation for calculation of flow with non-staggered grids." Numer. Heat
Transfer, 13(1), 125-132. The following symbols are used in this paper:
Naot, D., and Rodi, W. (1982). "Numerical simulation of secondary cur-
rents in a channel flow." J. Hydr. Div., ASCE, 108(8),948-968. C = neutral concentration;
Odgaard, A. J. (1986). "Meander flow model. I: Development." J. Hydr. g = gravitational constant;
Engrg., ASCE, 112(12), 1117 -1136. H = water depth;
Patankar, S. V. (1980). Numerical heat transfer and fluid flow. Hemi- J = Jacobian;
sphere Publishing Corp., Bristol, Pa.
Rodi, W. (1984). Turbulence models and their application in hydraulics-
P = water kinetic pressure;
A state of art review, 2nd Ed., Int. Assoc. for Hydr. Res., Delft, The q3h q32' q13' q23' a, 13, 'Y = metric tensor components;
Netherlands. t = time;
Roe, P. L. (1981). "Approximate Riemann solvers, parameter vectors, u, v, w = velocity components in x, y, z-direc-
and different schemes." J. Compo Phys., 43(2),357-372. tions;
Shimizu, Y., Yamaguchi, Y., and Itakura, T. (1990). "Three-dimensional U, V = contravariant velocities in ~, TJ-direc-
computation of flow and bed deformation." J. Hydr. Engrg., ASCE, tions;
116(9),1090-1107. W = velocity defined in a-coordinate;
Steffler, P. M. (1984). "Turbulent flow in a curved rectangular channel," x, y, Z = Cartesian coordinates;
PhD thesis, Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, Alta., Canada. Zb = bed elevation;
Stelling, G., and Van Kester, J. A. Th. M. (1994). "On the approximation
of horizontal gradients in SIGMA co-ordinates for bathymetry with
v = kinematic viscosity;
steep bottom slopes." Int. J. Numer. Methods in Fluids, 18(10), 915- Vth' V,. = turbulent viscosities;
~, TJ, a = curvilinear coordinates;
935.
Tamamidis, P., and Assanis, D. N. (1993). "Evaluation of various high- n = implicitness coefficient; and
order-accuracy schemes with and without flux limiters." Int. J. Numer. ac = turbulent Schmidt number for C.
Methods Fluids, 16(10),931-948.
Van Doorrnaal, J. P., and Raithby, G. D. (1984). "Enhancements of the Superscripts
SIMPLE method for predicting incompressible fluid flows." Numer.
Heat Transfer, 7(2),147-163. n, n + I = time level;
Yanenko, N. N. (1971). The method offractional steps. Springer-Verlag n + 1/3, n + 213 = intermediate value between steps; and
KG, Berlin, Germany. ,, " = variation between steps.

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J. Hydraul. Eng., 1998, 124(7): 687-698