Water surface topology of supercritical junction flow

Abstract

The complexity of flow conditions at junctions amplifies significantly with supercritical flow. It is a pronounced three-dimensional two-phased flow phenomenon, where standing waves with non-stationary water surface are formed. To analyse the hydrodynamic conditions at an asymmetric right-angled junction with incoming supercritical flows at Froude numbers between 2 and 12, an experimental approach was used. For a phenomenological determination of the relations between the integral parameters of incoming flows and the characteristics of standing waves at the junction area, water surface topographies for 168 scenarios at the junction were measured using non-intrusive measurement techniques. The new, phenomenologically derived equations allow for determination of location, height and extent of the main standing waves at the junction. Research results give important information on the processes and their magnitude for engineering applications.