SPH modelling of hydraulic jump oscillations at an abrupt drop

This paper shows the results of the numerical modelling of the transition from supercritical to subcritical flow at an abrupt drop, which can be characterised by the occurrence of oscillatory flow conditions between two different jump types. Weakly-Compressible Smoothed Particle (WCSPH) model was employed and both an algebraic mixing-length model and a two equation model were used to represent turbulent stresses. The purpose of this paper is to obtain through the SPH model a deeper understanding of the physical features of a flow, which is, in general, difficult to be reproduced numerically, owing to its unstable character. In particular, the experience already gained in SPH simulations of vorticity-dominated flows allows one to assess the fluctuations of hydrodynamic characteristics of the flow field, (e.g., free surface profile downstream of the jump, velocity, pressure and vorticity). Numerical results showed satisfactory agreement with measurements and most of the peculiar features of the flow were qualitatively and quantitatively reproduced.