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Surface waves and roughness in self-aerated supercritical flow

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Abstract

In high-velocity open channel flows, free-surface aeration is commonly observed. The effects of surface waves on the air–water flow properties are tested herein. The study simulates the air–water flow past a fixed-location phase-detection probe by introducing random fluctuations of the flow depth. The present model yields results that are close to experimental observations in terms of void fraction, bubble count rate and bubble/droplet chord size distributions. The results show that the surface waves have relatively little impact on the void fraction profiles, but that the bubble count rate profiles and the distributions of bubble and chord sizes are affected by the presence of surface waves.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Connell Wagner, 433 Boundary St, Spring Hill, 4000, Australia

    Luke Toombes

  2. Division of Civil Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Luke Toombes & Hubert Chanson

Authors
  1. Luke Toombes
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  2. Hubert Chanson
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Correspondence to Hubert Chanson.

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Toombes, L., Chanson, H. Surface waves and roughness in self-aerated supercritical flow. Environ Fluid Mech 7, 259–270 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10652-007-9022-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10652-007-9022-y

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