Large-eddy simulation of turbulent natural-bed flow

The turbulent flow in natural rough beds is a complex subject, still poorly understood despite the longstanding effort of several researchers. In the present work, a turbulent open-channel flow experiment, with a pebble bed at Reynolds and Froude numbers, respectively, Re = 4.65 × 104 and Fr = 0.186, has been simulated using the Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) technique, in which the wall-adapting local eddy viscosity subgrid scale closure model is used and in the presence of an air-water interface to take into account the effects of the interface deformation in the flow turbulence statistics under a low relative submergence condition. The simulations have been compared with a companion experiment, where the channel bottom is constituted by four pebble layers. For the simulations, the pebble-bed surface has been captured with a high-resolution three-dimensional laser scanner and used to morphologically characterize the numerical channel bottom. Results are presented in terms of turbulence statistics and turbulent laws, showing a good agreement with those obtained in the experiment. Since a good convergence between simulation and experimental results was obtained, the LES dataset was used to compute the Turbulent Kinetic Energy (TKE) dissipation rate across the water depth. The mesh resolution allows showing a detailed TKE dissipation rate distribution across the water depth. Moreover, the equilibrium between TKE production and dissipation was checked to verify the overlap layer existence under low relative submergence condition. Finally, a new procedure for vortex-visualization is implemented, based on the relationship between the vorticity and the TKE dissipation rate.