Abstract
Numerical study of turbulent flow developing in a meandering open-channel with rectangular cross sections has been carried out by using an algebraic stress model. The flow of interest to the study is one periodic meandering channel of five ones. In the calculation, govering equations are transformed from the physical plane to the calculation plane by using boundary-fitted coordinate system. The calculated results show that unsteady flow is observed for this meandering channel. Therefore, time-averaged numerical results are compared with the experimental data measured by Muto et al. It was found that the present numerical simulation could predict well the characteristic features of streamwise velocity, i. e. the maximum streamwise velocity generated inner bank at bend apex and the location of the maximum velocity moved to the other side bank along the meandering channel, which is different from those of curved open-channel flow. Adding to this, the distributions of secondary flow and Reynolds stresses are reproduced by the present method. The calculated results also suggest that meandering channel flow is featured by unsteady movement of the secondary flow pattern.
