On unsteady open-channel flows: a contribution to non-stationary sediment transport in runoff flows and to unstable non-Newtonian mudflow studies

• Ano de defesa: 2016
• Autor(a) principal: Fiorot, Guilherme Henrique [UNESP]
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
• Palavras-chave em Português: Hidraulica; Transporte de sedimentos; Instabilidades de superficie livre; Reologia; Catastrofes naturais; Hydraulics; Sediment transport; Open-channel flow; Rheology; Natural hazards
• Link de acesso: http://hdl.handle.net/11449/143758

This thesis was motivated by the need to better understand time-dependent features related to mudflow evolution on natural sloped channels. Basically, the research is focused on events that are confined in channels formed due to the topography. The rain, source of the liquid discharge, generates the runoff flow which is responsible for wetting the soil surface, promoting reduction of soil cohesiveness and erosion of small particles such as clay and sand. From this point, the sediment transport can increase as small water flows merge and form greater streams. The scenario keeps its evolution until it reaches high concentration of particles in the fluid mixture. In the first part, to study the non-permanent feature of sediment transport, an open-channel experiment was designed for simulating runoff flow over a mobile bed. A measurement system was designed and constructed to instantaneously inspect the solid discharge of particles and the flow friction at the bed. This apparatus is further used to explore the influence of free-surface waves on the sediment transport. Hydraulic properties of flows are qualitatively and quantitatively studied and data are used to correlate characteristics of flow and sediment transport. A set of experimental runs is presented and explored. Analysis of results shows that for fixed flow conditions, waves induce an overall smaller quantity of transported sediment. In a second part, the dynamics of high concentrated flows is addressed and this thesis attempts to apply a first-order roll-wave model for Herschel-Bulkley laminar fluid flow to a registered natural event. Results presented point out that roll waves could have occurred during this already published case-study event. Simulations could predict wave heights within 8% on uncertainty with respect to the mean amplitude of measured waves. Finally a new theoretical solution for the velocity profile is proposed taking into account the porosity of the bed. Results are then compared with numerical simulation performed in FLUENT. A parametric analysis is employed and the case-study is once again evaluated. As general conclusion, the non-permanent phenomena that can appear during the evolution of a mudflow event affect the overall dynamics of the coupled system (hydraulic-sediment transport) in comparison to the steady and uniform case. Verifying that such phenomena could appear should indeed be an important part in hydraulic engineering projects, especially when dealing with lives, which is the case of mudflows.