scholarly journals CFD-DEM modelling of sediment transport in sewer systems under steady and unsteady flow conditions

2019 ◽  
Vol 80 (11) ◽  
pp. 2141-2147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Alihosseini ◽  
Sveinung Sægrov ◽  
Paul Uwe Thamsen

Abstract Numerical and experimental investigations were undertaken to study sediment transport under steady flow conditions and under flush waves in sewer pipes. Experiments were carried out with sand and gravel of different size distributions under smooth and rough bed conditions. Moreover, different hydraulic boundary conditions were investigated for flush waves. The numerical part of this study was carried out in the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software ANSYS Fluent, which is two-way coupled to the Discrete Element Method (DEM) software EDEM. The main focus of this study is to determine if the CFD-DEM coupled method could reasonably predict the behaviour of sediments in sewers and thus be used for studying various features of sediment transport that are not easy to determine in laboratory experiments or in-situ measurements. Furthermore, it is important to replace the traditional empirical approaches developed for fluvial conditions with new methodologies, which are able to consider the high number of variables involved in sediment transport in sewers. The numerical model was validated with laboratory experiments and used to study details of sediment transport processes in sewers.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Piantini ◽  
Florent Gimbert ◽  
Alain Recking ◽  
Hervé Bellot

<p>Sediment transport processes and fluxes play a key role in fluvial geomorphology and hazard triggering. In particular, extreme floods characterized by highly concentrated flows set the pace of mountain landscape evolution, where the linkage between streams and sediment sources leads to strong solid inputs characterized by significant grain sorting processes. The main observation that river processes generate ground vibrations has led to the application of seismic methods for monitoring purposes, which provides an innovative system that overcomes traditional monitoring difficulties especially during floods. Mechanistic models have been proposed in the attempt to invert river flow properties such as sediment fluxes from seismic measurements. Although those models have recently been validated in the laboratory and in the field for low transport rates, it remains unknown whether they are applicable to extreme floods.</p><p>Here we carry a set of laboratory experiments in a steep (18% slope) channel in order to investigate the link between seismic noise and sediment transport under extreme flow conditions with highly concentrated sediment flows. The originality of this set-up is that instead of feeding the flume section directly as usually done, we feed with liquid and solid discharge a low slope storage zone connected to the upstream part of the steep channel. This allows us to produce sediment pulses of varying magnitude (up to the transport capacity) and granulometric composition, traveling downstream as a result of alternate phases of deposition and erosion occurring in the storage area. We measure flow stage, seismic noise, sediment flux and grain size distribution. We find that the previously proposed relationships between seismic power, sediment flux and grain diameter often do not hold in such sediment transport situations. We support that this is due to granular interactions occurring between grains of different sizes within the sediment mixture and leading to complex grain sorting processes. In particular, we observe that bigger grains do not directly impact the bed but rather roll over fines or smaller grains, such that observed seismic power is much lower than expected. These results constitute a starting point for the development of a new mechanistic model for seismic power generated by highly concentrated bedload sediment flows.</p>


Author(s):  
Maryam Alihosseini ◽  
Paul Uwe Thamsen

Abstract In sewer sediment management, the removal of depositions using hydraulic flushing gates has recently gotten great attention. Despite numerous investigations, the complex process of sediment transport under flushing waves is not yet well understood. The present work aims to calibrate and validate a coupled computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method (CFD-DEM) to study the fluid-sediment interaction in sewers. The CFD part of the simulation was carried out in the software Ansys Fluent which is two-way coupled to the DEM software EDEM. The multiphase model volume of fluid (VOF) was used to simulate the flushing wave, while the sediments were handled as DEM particles using the discrete phase model (DPM). To validate the 3D model, experimental work has been performed in a circular laboratory pipe with sand and gravel of different size distributions. A construction of a sluice gate was installed to realize the flushing event, which is similar to a dam-break wave. The evolution of the sediment bed and the scouring efficiency of the waves were examined under different flushing conditions. The results showed that the CFD-DEM method could be used to investigate the performance of flushing devices and various features of sediment transport which are not easy to obtain in the laboratory or field.


Author(s):  
Dongxu Wang ◽  
Jing Yuan ◽  
Ole S. Madsen

In the coastal environment, wave-induced sand ripples are usually observed under moderate near-bed flow conditions. Their occurrence significantly changes the local hydrodynamics and sediment transport processes. Over the past few decades, some solid progresses have been made towards understating the ripple dimensions under wave-generated near-bed flows, e.g., O'Donoghue et al. [2006], but very few studies are targeted on the more detailed geometric characteristics, e.g., the generic shape of ripples and the sharpness of ripple crests, which are closely related to the coherent vortex structures. This study is aimed at filling this knowledge gap.


1992 ◽  
Vol 25 (8) ◽  
pp. 115-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. S. Perrusquía

An experimental study of the transport of sediment in a part-full pipe was carried out in a concrete pipe. The experiments were confined to bedload transport. The purpose of this study was to analyze the flow conditions that characterize the stream traction in pipe channels and their relationship to flow resistance and sediment transport rate. Three procedures used in this kind of experimental study were tested and found valid: 1) the vertical velocity distribution near the sediment bed can be described by the velocity-defect law, 2) the side wall elimination procedure can be used to compute the hydraulic radius of the sediment bed, and 3) the critical shear stress of the sediment particles can be obtained by using Shields' diagram. A relationship to estimate bedload transport, based on dimensional analysis, was proposed. This was expressed in terms of both flow and particle parameters as well as geometric factors. Further experimental work is recommended before this relationship can be fully incorporated in a simulation model for the analysis of storm sewers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 600
Author(s):  
Hyun Dong Kim ◽  
Shin-ichi Aoki

When erosion occurs, sand beaches cannot maintain sufficient sand width, foreshore slopes become steeper due to frequent erosion effects, and beaches are trapped in a vicious cycle of vulnerability due to incident waves. Accordingly, beach nourishment can be used as a countermeasure to simultaneously minimize environmental impacts. However, beach nourishment is not a permanent solution and requires periodic renourishment after several years. To address this problem, minimizing the period of renourishment is an economical alternative. In the present study, using the Tuvaluan coast with its cross-sectional gravel nourishment site, four different test cases were selected for the hydraulic model experiment aimed at discovering an effective nourishment strategy to determine effective alternative methods. Numerical simulations were performed to reproduce gravel nourishment; however, none of these models simultaneously simulated the sediment transport of gravel and sand. Thus, an artificial neural network, a deep learning model, was developed using hydraulic model experiments as training datasets to analyze the possibility of simultaneously accomplishing the sediment transport of sand and gravel and supplement the shortcomings of the numerical models.


2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Dietze ◽  
F. Maussion ◽  
M. Ahlborn ◽  
B. Diekmann ◽  
K. Hartmann ◽  
...  

Abstract. Grain-size distributions offer powerful proxies of past environmental conditions that are related to sediment sorting processes. However, they are often of multimodal character because sediments can get mixed during deposition. To facilitate the use of grain size as palaeoenvironmental proxy, this study aims to distinguish the main detrital processes that contribute to lacustrine sedimentation across the Tibetan Plateau using grain-size end-member modelling analysis. Between three and five robust grain-size end-member subpopulations were distinguished at different sites from similarly–likely end-member model runs. Their main modes were grouped and linked to common sediment transport and depositional processes that can be associated with contemporary Tibetan climate (precipitation patterns and lake ice phenology, gridded wind and shear stress data from the High Asia Reanalysis) and local catchment configurations. The coarse sands and clays with grain-size modes >250 μm and <2 μm were probably transported by fluvial processes. Aeolian sands (~200 μm) and coarse local dust (~60 μm), transported by saltation and in near-surface suspension clouds, are probably related to occasional westerly storms in winter and spring. Coarse regional dust with modes ~25 μm may derive from near-by sources that keep in longer term suspension. The continuous background dust is differentiated into two robust end members (modes: 5–10 and 2–5 μm) that may represent different sources, wind directions and/or sediment trapping dynamics from long-range, upper-level westerly and episodic northerly wind transport. According to this study grain-size end members of only fluvial origin contribute small amounts to mean Tibetan lake sedimentation (19± 5%), whereas local to regional aeolian transport and background dust deposition dominate the clastic sedimentation in Tibetan lakes (contributions: 42 ± 14% and 51 ± 11%). However, fluvial and alluvial reworking of aeolian material from nearby slopes during summer seems to limit end-member interpretation and should be crosschecked with other proxy information. If not considered as a stand-alone proxy, a high transferability to other regions and sediment archives allows helpful reconstructions of past sedimentation history.


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