During floods, it is quite easy for automobiles to be swept away by water flow. In this study, the risk of this happening to a vehicle during a flood situation was examined by a laboratory experiment. Horizontal hydrodynamic forces on a model car were measured in a straight channel. Especially, effects of the angle between main flow direction and a vehicle (
θ) on drag force coefficients were examined with two dimensionless parameters, relative water depth and Froude number. In addition, the hydrodynamic force on a prototype car was predicted using the experimental results, and the risk to automobile traffic in a flood situation was estimated as a function of
θ, flow velocity and relative water depth. As a result of this study, it is made clear that driving a car during a flood situation is dangerous.
View full abstract