Simulation of Cavitating Water Flow in High Energy Spillways

The air-water mixture from an artificially aerated spillway flowing down to a canyon may create major erosion and damage to both the spillway’s surface and the environment. In this case, the location of an aerator to prevent cavitation scour and decrease the energy head of the flow, its geometry and the aeration flow rate would be important factors in designing an environmental friendly high energy spillway. In this work, an analysis of the problem based on physical and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling is presented. The numerical modelling is a large-eddy simulation technique (LES) combined with a discrete element method. Three-dimensional simulations of a spillway are performed on a graphics processing unit (GPU). The result of this analysis in the form of design suggestions intend to diminish the hazards associated with cavitation and may minimize canyon erosion. This promising effort in GPU computing could pave the way for developing advanced simulation techniques for the study of waterways and ports, as well as coastal and ocean engineering in the future.