Proceedings of the 19th IAHR-APD Congress 2014, Hanoi, Vietnam

ISBN 978604821338-1

EFFECT OF ASPECT RATIO ON FLOW PATTERNS AND RESISTANCE CHARACTERISTICS AROUND EMERGENT
GROYNES

KAZUKI YONEMORI(1), ICHIRO KIMURA(2) & YASUYUKI SHIMIZU(3)

(1)
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Tokyo, Japan,
kazuki_7_23@eng.hokudai.ac.jp
(2)
Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan,
i-kimu2@eng.hokudai.ac.jp
(3)
Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan,
yasu@eng.hokudai.ac.jp

ABSTRACT
Groynes are recognized to have a role on preventing bank erosion because they act as flow resistance and decrease
velocity near banks. In general, water surface is elevated under larger flow resistance. However, if groynes are installed,
river bed at the main channel part is scoured. So, groynes has those two opposite effects on affecting water elevation.
Interaction between those two opposite effects seem to have key factor for determining water level though such features
have not yet been fully discussed. In this study, we try to clarify the effects of groyne interval on flow resistance by both
experimental and numerical approaches under fixed bed conditions. The experimental results showed that the resistance
changes according to the groyne interval and it takes a peak at a certain value of the aspect ratio. If the aspect ratio is
small, an isolated separated vortex moves along the junction one by one. However, if the aspect ratio becomes larger,
multi vortices can exist together at the junction. The numerical results showed that scale of vortex depends on the
momentum thickness. If groyne interval is small, momentum thickness increases along the entire interval. Thus, the
vortex is amplified as it goes downstream. If the groyne interval is larege, the momentum thickness takes peak within
the interval. Thus, after the point where the momentum thickness takes peak, the vortex becomes attenuated. It is also
shown that the momentum exchange rate at the boundary between the mainstream and the groyne region related to
scale of vortex, which have close influence on determining flow resistance due to groynes.

Keywords: Groyne; Open channel flows; Flow resistance; CFD, 2D depth averaged shallow flow equations

1. INTRODUCTION
Spur-dikes are installed into river channels to maintain
the navigation system and also protect the river bank
from erosion. Recently, super-dikes are also recognized
as an effective tool to improve the river environment
because super-dikes can create wide variety of flow
characteristics in rivers and can provide preferable
environment for wide variety of fauna and flora.
Therefore, a lot of studies have been done for phenomena
related to super-dikes from different aspects with
different methods. For instance, the mass exchange
between the groyne field and the main flow, which is
important for habitat, has been investigated with both
numerical and experimental approaches (Uijttewaal et al.
(2001), Weitbrecht et al. (2007), Constantinescu et al.
(2009), etc.). However, even though it is rather classical
topic, there are still a lot of unclarified phenomena on
flows around spur-dikes. For instance, characteristics of
the flow resistance around groyne fields, which is
important for flood control in rivers, have not studied
sufficiently yet. It is obvious that the super-dikes act as
obstacles to river flows. The previous study has showed
that the aspect ratio (=D/L, D: groyne interval, L: groyne
length) is one of key factor to determine the water
exchange between the groyne field and the main stream.
However, the relation between the aspect ratio and the
flow resistance remains to be unknown.
In this paper, we performed laboratory experiments as
well as numerical simulations with 2-D (two-
dimensional) flow models to clarify the relation between
the aspect ratio and the flow resistance in open channel
flows with emergent spur-dikes in series. In the
laboratory tests, the aspect ratio is changed from 2.0 to
20.0 in 5 cases and the flow resistance is evaluated as the
water depth at the qusi-uniform flow region. It is shown
that the flow resistance takes a maximum at the aspect
ratio between 5 to 10. Large scale vortex shedding along
the interface between the main channel and the groyne
field, and the periodic water surface oscillation are
observed in all cases.
In the computations, a depth-averaged shallow flow
equations are applied. The peak of the flow resistance
around the aspect ratio 5-10 is reproduced numerically
by the present 2-D model if the periodic boundary
conditions with a computational domain including two
spans of spur-dikes are used.

1
2. LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS
2.1 Experimental setup
The experimental setup is shown schematically in Figure
1. We used 10m long 20cm wide 20cm high tilting flume
made of Plexiglas for the present experiments. The length
of the super-dike is L=5cm long and the width is 2cm in
all cases. The special interval of the super-dikes (=D) are
changed in four cases from D=10cm, D=25cm, D=50cm
and D=100cm with corresponding aspect ratio (=D/L) of
2, 5, 10 and 20, respectively. The spur-dikes models are
installed along the left bank side in the whole channel
length with a constant interval. The main hydraulic
parameters in the present experiment is listed in Table 1.
The channel is too short to generate the uniform flow
region without adjustment. Therefore, we attached a weir
plate at the downstream end of the channel and adjust
the backwater elevation in order to generate quasi-
uniform flow region at the center part of the channel as
long as possible.
Figure 1. Outline of experimental setup.
Table 1. Hydraulic parameters in the present laboratory tests.
Figure 2 (a) Surface flow pattern in Case E2. (Flow is from left to
right. Only one vortex is generated along the interface between
the main-stream and the groyne field.)
Figure 2 (b) Surface flow pattern in Case E3. (Flow is from left to
right. Mainly one vortex is generated along the interface between
the main-stream and the groyne field although two vortices
appear together tentatively.)
Figure 2 (c) Surface flow pattern in Case E10. (Flow is from left to
right. Two or more vortices are generated together along the
interface. The main stream sometimes reattaches to the side-wall
(left bank.)
2.2 Surface flow patterns observed in the
experiments
Figures 2 (a)-(c) show the instantaneous surface flow
patterns visualized with aluminum powder in Cases E2,
E5 and E10 with different aspect ratios 2, 5 and 10. In all
cases, large scale horizontal vortex shedding is observed
along the junction between the main-stream and the
groyne field due to the shear layer instability (Kelvin-
Helmholtz instability). In case of smaller aspect ratio
(D/L=2, Case E2), only one vortex is observed
simultaneously along the junction. In case of D/L=5
(Case E5), basically one vortex is generated along the
interface although tentatively two vortices align
simultaneously sometimes. However, in cases of larger
aspect ratio (D/L=10 or 20 (CaseE10 and E20)), two or
more vortices are observed together constantly along the
junction. In case of D/L=20 (Case E20), it is also observed
that the main stream reattaches at the side wall of the
groyne field. Periodic free surface oscillation is also
observed in all cases. The observed oscillation takes one
node at the vicinity of the center part of the groyne field,
and the oscillation occurs in the streamwise direction just
like a sloshing in a closed water domain. The large scale
vortex shedding occurs almost in tune with the free
surface oscillation. Those features are in good agreement
2
with the characteristics observed in the previous 6
numerical and experimental studies (Kimura and Hosoda f ( Re ' 430) ,
Re '
(1997), Kimura and Hosoda (2000), Kimura et a. (2010),
etc.). 2 1 f
AS 1 ln Re ' ( Re ' 430)
f 2
3. COMPUTATIONS
[5]
where = 0.41, AS = 5.5.
3.1 Governing equations for 2-D depth
averaged shallow water model
3.2 Turbulence model
We adopted a depth-integrated Reynolds averaged 2-D
As a tubulence model, we employed the linear 0-equation
(Two-dimensional) shallow flow equations in the
model developed. The constitutive equation of the
Cartesian coordinate system for simulating flow around
present turbulce model is shown as:
emergent spur-dikes in series studied in our research.
The governing equations for the present model are
composed with the depth-averaged continuity equation U U j 2
ui u j t i kij [6]
and momentum equations in x-y directions described as x xi 3
follows (Kimura et al. (2009)). j
[Continuity equation] The eddy viscosity coefficient is evaluated by the
following 0 equation model.
h M N
0 [1] t hu* [7]
t x y
where u* = local friction velocity ( f (u 2 v 2 ) / 2 ) ; =
[Momentum equation in x-direction]
model constant (0.2 is used, Kimura et al. (2009)) and k =
depth-averaged turbulent kinetic energy evaluated by the
M uM vM h empirical formula proposed by Neze and Nakagawa
gh gh sin bx
t x y x (1993), who proposed the universal expression in
equation [8] for turbulent kinetic-energy distribution
u '2 h u ' v'h u u
h h
x y x x y y k z
2
4.78 exp 2 [8]
[2] u* h
[Momentum equation in y-direction]
where z = vertical axis. The depth-averaged turbulent
kinetic energy becoms the following formula is 2.07u*2
N uN vN (h zb ) when equation [8] is integrated from the bottom to the
gh by
t x y y surface.

v' u 'h v'2 h v v

h h 3.3 Computational schemes
x y x x y y
The QUICK scheme (second order in space) and the first
[3] order upwind scheme, which are both conservative, are
where, (x, y) : spatial coordinate, t: time, h: depth, (u, v): used for advection terms in the momentum equation. The
depth-averaged velocity components in (x, y) directions, second order Adams Bashforth scheme is used for time
(M, N): fluxes in (x, y) direction defined as (hu, hv), (u, integration. The governing equations are discretized in a
v): turbulence velocities in (x, y) directions, ui ' u j ' : full-staggered arrangement of variables shown in Figure
depth-averaged Reynolds stress tensor, : dynamic 3 to consider the stability of the computation.
viscosity coefficient, sin: bed slope, f: friction coefficient
(function of Reynolds number), ( bx , by ) : bed friction
stress vector, : momentum coefficient, f : angle
between stream line and x-axis and (bx, by) = bottom
shear-stresss in (x, y) directions.

x and y components of the bottom shear-stress vector are

evaluated by

fu 2 fv 2
bx u v 2 ; by u v2 [4]
2 2
where f =friction factor related to local Reynolds number
Reuh/, evaluated as follows (Kimura and Hosoda,
1997):

3
 z

y
N,v

M, u
Figure 5. Computational result of Case E10 (D/L=10) (Velocity
x vectors and contours of velocity magnitude) Flow is from left to
right. Upper: one-span case, Lower: Two-span case.

Figure 3. Arrangement of hydraulic variables in plane 2D models.

Figure 6. Computational result of Case E2. (velocity vectors and

contours of velocity magnitude. Flow is from left to right.)

Figure 4. Computations with periodic boundary conditions at

inlet and outlet with One-span and Two-span cases.

In the computations with spur-dikes in series, a periodic

boundary conditions at inlet and outlet boundaries is
often adopted to consider the cyclic flow patterns
efficiently. However, the adequacy of the periodic Figure 7. Computational result of Case E5. (velocity vectors and
boundary conditions should be considered carefully contours of velocity magnitude. Flow is from left to right.)
because periodic vortex shedding and free surface
oscillation are observed in the present cases. If the
periodic boundary conditions including only one span of
spur-dikes into the computational domain are adopted,
the free-surface oscillation with one node at the center of
the qroyne field is completely suppressed because the
free-surface oscillation at the inlet and outlet occur
synchronously. In order to consider the free-surface
oscillation with one node at the groyne center, in which
the wave length becomes twice of the interval of the spur
dikes (hereafter, we call this type of oscillation the first
mode), at least two spans of the spur-dikes should be
included into the computational domain if we apply the
periodic boundary condition. To consider the adequacy
of the periodic boundary condition, we try two cases, one
Figure 8. Computational result of Case E20 (D/L=20). (Velocity
is including only one span of the spur-dikes, and the vectors and contours of velocity magnitude. Flow is from left to
other is including two spans, and the results of the two right) Several vortices move together along the interface between
cases are compared (see Figure 4). the main channel and groyne field (upper figure). The flow
sometimes reattaches to the left bank between two groynes (lower
figure).

4
3.4 summary of the computational results
Figure 5 shows the comparison of the snap shots of the
velocity vectors and the velocity magnitude in case of
D/L=5 with one-span and two-span computations.
In both cases, large scale vortex along the interface
between the main flow and groyne field is reproduced
realistically. However, the vortices in case of the two-
span case is much clearer than that in the one-span case.
Note that the two vortices at each span in the two-spans
case are out of phase. This result implies that the large
scale vortex shedding occurs in tune with the free-surface
oscillation in the first mode as observed in the laboratory
experiments, because the free-surface oscillation of the
first mode in two adjacent groyne fields should occur out
of phase.
Figure 10. Amplitude of free-surface oscillation in the
Figures 6, 7 and 8 show the snapshots of flow patterns
computational result (one-span and Two-span cases.)
(velocity vectors and contours of velocity magnitude) in
Case E2, E5 and E20, respectively. In case E2, only one
In case of the computational result of the one-span case,
vortex is generated along the interface. In case E5, mainly
the peak does not exist and the flow resistance increases
only one velocity is generated (left figure) though
monotonously with the aspect ratio. This feature is very
tentatively two vortices appears together sometimes
different from the experimental result. Although it is still
(right figure). In the computational result of Case E20,
not clear the mechanism of the existence of the peak
several vortices are generated and flow sometimes
around the aspect ratio between 5 and 10, the present
reattaches to the left bank between two groynes. Those
experimental and numerical results imply that the
flow patterns depending on the aspect ratio in the present
relation between the flow resistance and the aspect ratio
computations are in good agreement with the present
is governed by the free-surface oscillation with the first
experimental results.
mode.

Figure 10 shows the amplitude (r.m.s.) of the free-surface

oscillation in the present computational results of one-
span and two-span cases depending of the aspect
ratio. The characteristics of two cases are very different.
In case of one-span case, the amplitude increases
almost in proportion with the aspect ratio. On the other
hand, the amplitudes around aspect ratio of 5-10 are
relatively larger in two-span case. This result also
indicates that the free surface oscillation of the first mode
is the control mechanism to determine the flow resistance
of the open channel flows with a series of groynes.

Figure 9. Relation between the aspect ratio (=D/L) and the
uniform flow depths in the experimental results and
computational result (one-span and two-span casese).
2. CHARACTERISTICS OF FLOW
RESISTANCE
Figure 9 shows the relation between the water depth at
the uniform flow region and the aspect ratio in the
present numerical and experimental results. The depth is
considered to express the magnitude of the flow
resistance. In the experimental results, a clear peak exists
around the aspect ratio of 5. In case of the computational
result of the two-span case, similar peak exists at aspect
ratio between 5 and 10. Although the location of the peak
is slightly different, the relation between the aspect ratio
and the flow resistance in the experimental result and the
computational result with the two-span case are quite
similar.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
In order to consider the influence of the aspect ratio of
the emergent spur-dikes in series on the flow resistance,
we performed both laboratory experiments and the
computations with a depth-averaged 2-D shallow flow
equations. Both in the experimental and computational
results, the flow resistance took a peak around the aspect
ratio between 5 and 10. This feature is closely related to
the free surface oscillation with one node at the center of
the groyne field (first mode oscillation). It is also pointed
out that, at least two-spans of the spur-dikes should be
included into the computational domain if a periodic
boundary condition is specified at the inlet and outlet
boundaries to simulate adequately the feature of the flow
resistance depending on the aspect ratio.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors express sincere thanks to Professor Takashi
Hosoda at Kyoto University for scientific advices on the
present study.

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