Lattice Boltzmann Model for the Simulation of Flows in Open Channels with Application to Flows in a Submerged Sluice Gate

Abstract

Numerical simulations of free-surface flows are important to provide a prediction tool for the optimal management of irrigation canals. Here, we consider an alternative to solving the shallow-water equations. We propose a free-surface model in which the vertical component of the water current is fully resolved. We believe that such a detailed description can be useful to model the flow around gates or in other situations where the vertical structure of the flow will be important such as in the case of sediment transport and deposition. Our approach is based on a two-fluid lattice Boltzmann model. We compare the predictions obtained from numerical simulation and experiments performed on a laboratory microcanal facility.