Simulação numérica do escoamento em canais utilizando o método das características e fluidodinâmica computacional

Abstract

Computational modeling of fluids behavior has established itself as a design tool during the years in Hydraulic Engineering in order to optimize the way that man deals with problems related o water resources. Among these problems, it stands out unsteady open surface flow in channels and rivers. This thesis pretends to solve the Saint Venant Equations for flow in channels by using the Method of characteristics. It was studied the problem of a rectangular channel, initially static, with left discharge. To calculate the wave propagation it was implemented an algorithm using the software MATLAB. Results from Saint Venant Equations were showed to be consistent with the available literature. To obtain the solution of the problem through Navier Stokes Equations, the program ANSYS CFX performed simulations with two distinct mesh refinements. Finally, surface profiles and average velocities from the Saint Venant model for different times were compared to the most refined simulation. The quantitative and qualitative analysis presented similarities between the surface height and velocity profiles from both methods.