Finite element and experimental analyses of unsteady hydrodynamic flows in lakes

Abstract

We present a numerical result in finite element analysis of flows in the water environment. We also present a result that we obtained experimentally utilizing the global positioning system (GPS). We show how the numerical result can be incorporated in analysis to simulate the experimental result. We describe our technique with an example in which an unsteady flow generated in Kojima Lake was analyzed numerically and experimentally.

Keywords:

• Global positioning system
• Water environment
• Experimental analysis
• Finite element method

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank people in the Kojima Bay Central Administration Office, the Section of Land Improvement in the Kojima Bay Area for providing us with data concerning the water levels and the tide level, people in the Okayama Prefecture Okayama Development Bureau for providing us with data concerning the depth of Kojima Lake, and other useful information, and people in the Machining Center, the Faculty of Engineering, Okayama University for building the GPS-float. We would also like to thank Mr Takaaki Iwai, Mr Takahiro Kawahara, and Mr Hiroto Kikuno, who joined the experiments and the measurements, when they were students in the Faculty of Environmental Science and Technology, Okayama University. Some of the data presented here were based on results presented in their thesis. The information for generating the figures concerning Kojima Lake was partially based on maps © Shobunsha Publications, Inc., © Nihon Computer Graphic Co., Ltd.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Masaji Watanabe