Laboratory Design of Representative Real Shallow Basins for Validation of Numerical Models

Shallow reservoirs are hydraulic engineering structures widely used for trapping sediments or storing water.
Several research works focused on the links between reservoir geometry, boundary conditions and flow
patterns but considered simplified configurations. The objective of this study is to complete the existing data
by designing a set of new laboratory configurations representative of a range of real cases to get new data for
the validation of numerical models and to allow a better understanding of the physics. Two inlet flow
configurations are considered with rectangular reservoirs: an open channel (reference case), and a pressurized
flow jet; the outlet is a free surface channel for both configurations. A wide range of parameters extracted from
real reservoirs are investigated. Parameters with significant impact on the flow pattern are analyzed and
retained for the design of laboratory experiences (Reynolds number, Froude number, Friction number…). A
numerical pre-simulation is performed with the TELEMAC-3D code to test the hydraulic parameters and
establish a preliminary numerical comparison between the reference and jet cases. The 3D results and 2D
average results of velocity magnitude extracted from TELAMAC-3D simulations are presented and compared.
For the same hydraulic conditions, comparisons between the reference and jet cases show a different flow
pattern and distribution.