Turbulent flow characteristics at the outlet of partially blocked box culverts

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Sayana Sorourian

Wednesday 1 july 2015

12:30 - 12:33h at Oceania (level 0)

Themes: (T) Sediment management and morphodynamics, (ST) Sediment transport mechanisms and modelling, Poster pitches

Parallel session: Poster pitches: 8A. Sediment - Erosion

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Blockage of culverts commonly occurs during the flood events. When a culvert is partially blocked at the inlet, the flow structure in the barrel and at the outlet will change and consequently may result in the failure of culvert. The effect of blockage on expanding the score hole geometry at the outlet was previously reported. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the turbulent flow structure changes and conditions of a partially blocked culvert compare to a non-blocked culvert. An experimental program was designed to measure the longitudinal, lateral and vertical velocity components through the culvert barrel centreline and at the outlet. Tests were conducted in both non-blocked and partially blocked condition. Based on that the turbulent flow characteristics such as turbulence intensity, turbulent kinetic energy and Reynolds shear stress were obtained for each condition. Results showed that the turbulent flow characteristics in partially blocked condition are significantly different in the barrel and at the outlet comparing to a non-blocked condition of the same discharge.