Experimental and numerical investigations of dike-break induced flows

Experimental model data are compared with numerical computations of dike-break induced flows, focusing on the final steady state. An idealised scale model was designed reproducing the specific boundary conditions of dike breaks. Discharges, water levels and depth profiles of horizontal velocities were recorded and validated by numerical modeling. The latter was performed by two different models solving the two-dimensional depth-averaged shallow water equations, namely a total variation diminishing Runge-Kutta dis¬continuous Galerkin finite element method, and a finite volume scheme involving a flux vector splitting ap¬proach. The results confirmed convergence and general applicability of both methods for dike-break prob¬lems. As regards their accuracy, the basic flow pattern was satisfactorily reproduced yet with differences compared to the measurements. Hence, additional simulations by a finite volume model were performed con¬sidering various turbulence closures, wall-roughnesses as well as non-uniform Boussinesq coefficients.