Basic Study on a Movement of Human Body Swept by Water Flow in a Channel

Abstract

To obtain fundamental knowledge of transport process of water accident victims, a series of numerical analysis of transport of human body submerged in a water channel was conducted. DRowing hUman Model (DRUM) was applied to solve a water flow and a human body movement. Calculated results with a flat water channel suggested that the terminal transport speed of human body is given by about 80 percent of water flow velocity, and mode of transport can changes according to flow velocity. After the simulation with a flat channel, a series of simulation with various flow speed was conducted with water channel in that a short barrier was installed. When the height of barrier was close to the thickness of human body, the human body could be transported in getting over the barrier even with the speed often observed in a river channel. Furthermore, it was found that the human body could be trapped by an eddy which was generated in the downstream side of barrier.