Dam-break flow on mobile bed in abruptly widening channel: experimental data

Abstract

This research presents experiments of dam-break flow on mobile bed in an abruptly expanding channel, the wider section being twice as wide as the narrow. The bed material consisted of coarse uniform sand. The flow near the one-sided flume expansion induces a two-dimensional morphological evolution. Important scour at the corner of the abrupt expansion was observed, while sediment deposition occurred in the wider channel reach. Measurements of the flow evolution and the final bed topography were obtained using ultrasonic sensors and digital imaging techniques, both having the advantage of being non-intrusive. The available experimental data consist of temporal water level evolutions at nine gauging points, water front propagations, velocity fields at given times at the free surface and topographical surveys of the final bed elevation at various cross-sections. This data set is available upon request to the scientific community for the validation of numerical models.

Keywords:

• Abrupt expansion
• dam-break
• digital imaging technique
• sediment transport
• topographical measurement