On the existence and evolution of a spanwise vortex in laminar shallow water dipoles

The present work investigates the existence and evolution of a spanwise vortex at the front of shallow dipolar vortices. The vortex dipoles are experimentally generated using a double flap apparatus. Particle image velocimetry measurements are performed in a horizontal plane and in the vertical symmetry plane of the flow. The dynamics of such vortical structures is investigated through a parametric study in which both the Reynolds number Re=U0D0/ν∈[90,470] and the aspect ratio α = h/D0∈[0.075,0.7],associated with the shallowness of the flow, are varied, where U0 is the initial velocity of the vortex dipole, D0 is the initial diameter, h is the water depth, and v is the kinematic viscosity of the fluid. The present experiments confirm the numerical results obtained in a companion paper by Duran-Matute et al. [Phys. Fluids 22, 116606 (2010)], namely that the flow remains quasi parallel with negligible vertical motions below a critical value of the parameter α2Re. By contrast, for large values of α2Re and α≲0.6, a three-dimensional regime is observed in the shape of an intense spanwise vortex generated at the front of the dipole. The present study reveals that the early-time motion and dynamics of the spanwise vortex do not scale on the unique parameter α2Re but is strongly influenced by both the aspect ratio and the Reynolds number. A mechanism for the generation of the spanwise vortex is proposed. For α≳0.6, a third regime is observed, where the spanwise vortex is replaced by a vorticity tongu

Fine‐Sediment Erosion and Sediment‐Ribbon Morphodynamics in Coarse‐Grained Immobile Beds

In rivers, fine sediments are often transported over immobile coarse grains. With low sediment supply, they tend to aggregate in longitudinal ribbons. Yet, the long-term evolution of such ribbons and the influence of immobile grains on the erosion of fine sediments are still not well understood. Flume experiments without sediment supply were therefore performed to investigate the erosion of an initially uniform fine-sediment bed covering an immobile bed of staggered spheres through topographic and flow measurements. The topographic measurements yielded the spheres\u27 protrusion above the fine sediment (P) and revealed long-lived ribbons with ridges and troughs. The ridges are the main long-term sediment source as the troughs are quickly eroded to a stable bed level resulting from the spheres\u27 sheltering. The ridges stabilize with a spacing of 1.3 effective water depths, their number resulting from the integer number of wavelengths fitting into the effective channel width which excludes side-wall accumulations. The ridges\u27 erosion is damped by the local upflow of secondary current cells, which displaces the strongest sweep events above the bed. The upflow intensity is controlled by the ridges\u27 height for low P, while for high P by the lateral roughness heterogeneity. The trends in erosion rates over ridges and troughs are similar and characterized by the following sequence of four regimes with increasing P: a drag sheltering, a turbulence-enhancement, a wake-interference sheltering, and a skimming-flow sheltering regime. The critical P levels at the transitions are independent of the flow above the canopy, depending only on the geometrical configuration of the immobile bed

Experimental study of the turbulent structure of a boundary layer developing over a rough surface

National audienceNous avons analysé les caractéristiques turbulentes de la couche limite neutre se développant sur une surface rugueuse. Des expériences ont été réalisées dans un canal hydraulique pour mesurer les champs bidimensionnels de vitesse via la technique de Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). Ces données expérimentales décrivent cette couche limite en termes de quantités moyennes et turbulentes avec un haut niveau de précision. Les termes des budgets d'énergie ont ainsi pu être estimés. Il apparait que le développement de la couche limite rugueuse ne modifie pas significativement la répartition entre les termes constitutifs des différents bilans. Les échelles de longueurs intégrales ont été estimées, de manière directe, à partir des corrélations spatiales. Ces échelles de longueurs verticales permettent alors de paramétrer les longueurs de mélange et de dissipation, utilisées dans des modèles 1D de prédiction. / We analysed the turbulent characteristics of the neutral boundary-layer developing over rough surfaces. A set of hydraulic flume experiments were carried out in order to measure two-dimensional velocity fields via a particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. The resulting experimental data describe this boundary layer in terms of the mean and turbulent quantities with a high level of accuracy. These results enabled the terms of the energy budgets to be estimated and show that the development of the rough neutral boundary layer does not significantly modify the repartition between the constitutive terms of the different budget. Spatial correlation analysis permitted the longitudinal and vertical integral length also to be estimated directly. Theses vertical length scales are then used to parametrize the mixing and dissipative lengths, used in 1D prediction models

Shear layers in two-stage compound channels investigated with LS-PIV

Flow experiments are conducted in a two-stage compound open-channel, with varying intensity of the velocity difference between the main channel (deep part) and the floodplain (shallower part), using a large-scale free surface PIV technique (LS-PIV). For all investigated flows, a shear layer develops at the interface between main channel and floodplain, characterised by a peak of turbulent shear stress. Yet, two different kinds of shear layer could be identified. The first kind is characterised by the presence of large-scale quasi-periodic structures of Kelvin-Helmholtz type which are growing in downstream direction, whereas the second kind is characterised by smaller-scale vortical structures without quasi-periodicity and which do not grow in downstream direction. The shear parameter λ=(U$_2$−U$_1$)/(U$_2$+U$_1$), where U$_1$ and U$_2$ are defined as the velocities outside the shear layer, is identified as a key parameter to distinguish between these two types of shear layers, supporting a result from Proust et al. (Water Resour Res 53: 3387–3406, 2017). A physical interpretation of the λ-criterion is proposed, based on the inhibiting effect of ambient turbulence (the turbulence level outside the shear layer) on the emergence of Kelvin-Helmholtz structures. Accordingly, the threshold value of λ, above which large-scale structures can develop, is dependent on the level of the ambient turbulence. Despite their very different behaviours, the two types of shear layer have the same efficiency to generate turbulent shear stress for a given velocity difference across the shear layer, except for λ-values close to the threshold value

Interaction between a rough bed and an adjacent smooth bed in open-channel flow

Experiments are conducted in an open-channel flow where half of the section is smooth and the other half consists of an array of cubes, which are either submerged or emergent. A shear layer featuring large-scale Kelvin–Helmholtz structures develops between the two subsections. The flows are first analysed in the framework of the double-averaging method (averaging of the flow both in time and space). Double averaging could be performed thanks to an experimental set-up (three-dimensional, two-component telecentric scanning particle image velocimetry) that allows to measure the velocity field in a large volume, including the interstices between the cubes. A momentum balance performed on the smooth subsection indicates that the loss of momentum towards the rough subsection has the same order of magnitude than the momentum loss through bed friction. This lateral momentum flux occurs nearly exclusively through turbulent shear stress, whereas secondary currents plays a minor role and dispersive shear stress is negligible. A pattern recognition technique is then applied to investigate statistically the large-scale Kelvin–Helmholtz structures that develop in the shear layer. The structures appear to be coherent over the water depth and to be strongly inclined in the vertical, the top part being ahead. The educed coherent structure is responsible by itself for the shape of the velocity profile across the shear layer and for a large part of the turbulence (up to 60 % for the turbulent shear stress). Finally, a coupling is identified between the passage of the Kelvin–Helmholtz structures and the instantaneous wake flow around the cubes at the interface

Experimental characterization of the 3D dynamics of a laminar shallow vortex dipole

Experimental results on the dynamics of a vortex dipole evolving in a shallow fluid layer are presented. In particular, the generation of a spanwise vortex at the front of the dipole is observed in agreement with previous experiments at larger Reynolds numbers. The results show that this secondary vortex is of comparable strength to the dipole. The present physical analysis suggests that the origin of this structure involves the stretching induced by the dipole of the boundary-layer vorticity generated by the dipole's advection over the no-slip bottom

Investigation of the swash zone evolution at wave time scale

The present work is dedicated to the study of the swash zone bed evolution at a high temporal and spatial resolution to investigate single-wave to wave-group time scales. The measurements are obtained in a large scale wave flume with a 1/15 sloping beach of well-sorted sand (d₅₀= 250 μm). The wave regime considered is a random Jonswap spectrum (peak enhancement factor γ = 3.3, significant wave height Hₛ= 0.53 m and peak period Tₚ = 4.14 s). A stereoscopic technique (Astruc et al., 2012) has been used to measure the sand bed evolution in the swash zone over a 3×2 m² area. This experiment allows us to capture the swash dynamics and the bottom evolution at the different temporal scales. The results prove the strong correlation between wave forcing and swash zone response over the entire experiment, even if the bottom evolves. At shorter time scales, we can observe the signature of gravity and infragravity waves. We showed that at both time scales, the erosion process exhibits a strong variability in time as accretion and erosion events are observed. The spatial variability of the bottom evolution is stronger at gravity than at infragravity time scales. These results reinforce the now-admitted idea that the mean evolution of the sand bed in the swash zone is the result of several events of a very different nature, which themselves depend on the details of the swash hydrodynamics

Lateral bed-roughness variation in shallow open-channel flow with very low submergence

Quantifying turbulent fluxes and secondary structures in shallow channel flows is important for predicting momentum and mass transfer in rivers as well as channel capacity and associated water levels. Here, we focus on the flow over a lateral bed-roughness variation with very low relative submergence of the roughness elements, h∕k ={3, 2, 1.5}, where h is the flow depth and k is the roughness height. Measurements were performed in a 1.1 m wide and 26 m long glass flume whose bed was fitted with cubes arranged in two regular side-by-side patterns with frontal densities λf = 0.2 and 0.4 to create a rough-to-rougher variation. Measurements were performed using stereoscopic PIV in two orthogonal planes, in a vertical transverse plane spanning the two roughness types, and in a longitudinal one at the interface between the roughness types. The results show that the bulk velocity difference between the two sides of the channel increases with decreasing h/k. Also, contrary to what is observed at high relative submergence with smooth-to-rough transitions, higher bulk velocities occur on the side with higher roughness. This difference is increasing as the flow becomes shallower and is shown to be due to increasing effective depths ratios, leading to increasingly lower friction factor ratios with lower friction factors on the high-velocity but rougher side. Although increasing streamwise momentum transfer at the interface is needed as h/k decreases, the turbulent and secondary circulation transfer of momentum is increasingly inhibited. A globally-driven secondary-circulation at h∕k = 3 ceases for lower h/k and roughness-scale circulation becomes dominant. Also, even the increased global shear does not lead to large-scale Kelvin Helmholtz instabilities structures. However, the relative importance of the roughness difference on the flow is augmented as the flow becomes shallower and momentum transfer due to lateral dispersive stresses increases

A three-dimensional experimental investigation of the structure of the spanwise vortex formed by a shallow vortex dipole

The three-dimensional dynamics of shallow vortex dipoles is investigated by means of an innovative 3D-3C (three dimensions, three components) scanning PIV technique. In particular, the three-dimensional structure of a frontal spanwise vortex is characterized. The technique also allows the computation of the pressure field, which is not available using standard 2D PIV measurement. The influence of such complex vortex structures on the mass transport is discussed in light of the available pressure field

A three-dimensional experimental investigation of the structure of the spanwise vortex generated by a shallow vortex dipole

The three-dimensional dynamics of shallow vortex dipoles is investigated by means of an innovative three-dimensional, three-component (3D-3C) scanning PIV technique. In particular, the three-dimensional structure of a frontal spanwise vortex is characterized. The technique allows the computation of the three-dimensional pressure field and the planar (x, y) distribution of the wall shear stress, which are not available using standard 2D PIV measurements. The influence of such a complex vortex structure on mass transport is discussed in the context of the available pressure and wall shear stress fields