Evaluation of Different Software Packages in Flow Modeling under Bridge Structures

• Main Author: Mohammad Taghi Dastorani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Water and Wastewater Consulting Engineers Research Development 2007-01-01
• Series: آب و فاضلاب
• Subjects: Flow Modeling; Under Bridge Flow; Software Packages; Hydrodynamic Modeling; bridge; ISIS; Mike11; HEC-RAS
• Online Access: http://www.wwjournal.ir/article_2224_38860ef6b8a518c3f1344f5e028142ee.pdf
• ISSN: 1024-5936; 2383-0905

This study is an independent and a comparative research concerning the accuracy, capability and suitability of three well-known packages ofISIS, MIKE11 and HEC-RAS as hydraulic river modeling software packages for modeling the flow through bridges. The research project was designed to assess the ability of each software package to model the flow through bridge structures. It was carried out using the data taken from experiments completed by a 22-meter laboratory flume at theUniversityofBirmingham. The flume has a compound cross section containing a main channel and two flood plains on either side. For this study a smooth main channel and a smooth floodplain have been assumed. Two types of bridges are modeled in this research; a multiple opening semi-circular arch bridge and a single opening straight deck bridge. For each bridge, two different simulations were carried out using two different upstream boundaries as low flow and high flow simulations. According to the results, all three packages were able to model arch and US BPR bridges but in some cases they presented different results. The highest water elevation upstream the bridge (maximum afflux) was the main parameter to be compared to the measured values.ISISand HEC-RAS (especially HEC-RAS) seem to be more efficient to model arch bridge. However, in some cases, MIKE 11 produced considerably higher results than those of the other two packages. To model USBPR bridge, all three packages produced reasonable results. However, the results by HEC-RAS are the best when the outputs are compared to the experimental data.