DualSPHysics simulations of spillway hydraulics: a comparison between single- and two-phase modelling approaches

This technical note presents the DualSPHysics application to spillway hydraulics, and an extensive comparison has been made between the single-water and two-phase water-air modelling approaches. It has been found that the DualSPHysics code based on the smoothed particle hydrodynamics method could provide a promising design tool for spillway flows in the engineering field. The model is first validated on a documented skimming flow and the numerical results are also compared with those computed from a smoothed spillway flow. Then the model is further validated by a laboratory experiment for a nappe flow, where the computed flow depth and velocity are validated against the physical measurements. It has been disclosed that for a skimming flow, the single- and two-phase SPH modelling approaches lead to small differences, while for a nappe flow with more serious free surface motion, the two-phase model clearly improved the simulation accuracy. After the model is fully validated, it is applied to investigate a practical spillway flow under different flow discharges, bed slopes and step numbers, covering two distinct spillway flow regimes. From the simulation results, the flow energy dissipation features are investigated with regards to the different flow rates and spillway configurations. It has been found that the energy dissipation efficiency of a spillway is proportional to the number of the steps but inversely proportional to the flow discharge and the spillway slope.