Numerical Evaluation of Turbulence Models for Velocity Distribution Simulation in Hydraulic Jumps

Abstract

Hydraulic jumps in stilling basins are critical for dissipating the high kinetic energy of flows downstream of ogee spillways, mitigating risks of riverbed scouring and structural damage. This study employs computational fluid dynamics (CFD) using Flow-3D to simulate the velocity distribution of hydraulic jumps in a stilling basin with a smooth bed, under flow rates of 33–60 L/s and Froude numbers of 3–10. Four turbulence models—RNG, k-ε, k-ω, and LES—were evaluated to determine the most accurate model by comparing numerical results with experimental data from a 10 m long, 0.51 m wide laboratory flume. A mesh convergence study identified an optimal mesh size of 0.011 m, balancing accuracy and computational efficiency. The RNG turbulence model demonstrated superior performance, with the lowest relative error (RE = 5.41%) and absolute error (AE = 0.0065 m) for hydraulic head predictions, attributed to its robustness in capturing high-shear flows. These findings enhance the application of CFD in optimizing stilling basin designs for hydraulic structures.

Keywords

• Hydraulic Jump
• ; Stilling Basin
• Turbulence Models
• Flow-3D
• RNG Model
• Energy Dissipation
• Velocity Distribution

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