Simulation of Three-Dimensional Flow Field around Unconventional Bridge Piers

• Main Authors: Adnan Ismael, Hamid Hussein, Mohammed Tareq, Mustafa Gunal
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ishik University 2017-12-01
• Series: Eurasian Journal of Science and Engineering
• Subjects: CFD; K- Model; 3D Turbulence Flow And Uncoventional Bridge Pier
• Online Access: http://eajse.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Simulation-of-Three-Dimensional-Flow-Field-around-Unconventional-Bridge-Piers.pdf

The study presents a three-dimensional numerical simulation of turbulent flow field around unconventional bridge piers which are downstream-facing round- nosed (DS-FRNP) and upstream- facing round- nosed (US-FRNP) and are compared with a circular pier in fixed-bed using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD). In this paper, the flow field passing around the bridge piers is predicted using k- standard turbulence model. The predicted flow velocity in x-direction and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) are compared with the tested data. Simulated flow velocity and turbulent kinetic energy are in good agreement with experimental data. Numerical model predicts the flow features such as flow reversal upstream the pier, down flow upstream the pier and flow in wake region, the shape of vortices (horse shoe vortex and wake vortex) also captured by simulation. The discussion of the relation between bridge pier shape and turbulent kinetic energy in this study will help to control the scour around bridge piers.