Effect of the Fish-Bone Dam Angle on the Flow Mechanisms of a Fish-Bone Type Dividing Dike

Fish-bone type dividing dikes are river engineering structures used for river training and to protect a mid-channel bar from scour. The flow characteristics around fish-bone type dividing dikes are very complicated, especially near its fish-bone dam. To understand the flow and scour processes associated with fish-bone dams, this paper conducts a numerical simulation of flow characteristics for different fish-bone dam angles. Based on the Yudaizhou fish-bone type dividing dike of the Dongliu Waterway, a 3-D numerical model is established via Flow-3D to simulate the flow characteristics around a fish-bone type dividing dike, which is verified by flume experiments. Based on the results, the effects of different fish-bone dam angles on water level and velocity distribution are investigated. With increasing fish-bone dam angle, the longitudinal and lateral gradients of the water level gradually decreased, and the variation degree of the longitudinal velocity also decreased; however, the variation degree of the lateral velocity increased. Vortex areas formed around the fish-bone dam and the downstream zone of the dike. A large velocity gradient was found around the dike, and the downstream vortex area decreased with increasing fish-bone dam angle.