Levee breach flow by experiment and numerical simulation

Abstract

Abrupt and gradual levee breach analyses on the flat domain were implemented by laboratory experiments and numerical simulations. To avoid the reflective wave from the side wall the experiment was performed in a large domain surrounded by waterway. A numerical model was developed for solving the two-dimensional gradual levee breach flow. The results of the numerical simulation developed in this study showed good agreement with those of the experimental data. However, even if the numerical schemes effectively replicated the trends of the observed water depth for the first shock, there were little differences for the second shock. In addition, even though the model considered the Smagorinsky horizontal eddy viscosity, the location and height of the hydraulic jump in the numerical simulation were not fairly well agree with experimental measurements. This shows the shallow water equation solver has a limitation which does not exactly reproduce the energy dissipation from the hydraulic jump. Further study might be required, considering the energy dissipation due to the hydraulic jump or transition flow from reflective wave.