Numerical simulation of a submerged circular turbulent jet impinging on flat and eroded boundaries

Abstract

Soil erosion may degrade water quality, cause riverbank instability, and damage infrastructure. Cohesive soil erosion is a complex process that depends on the physical, chemical and biological properties of soil as well as the interactions among properties. The jet erosion test is a cost-effective tool to measure erodibility of cohesive soils. In this test, erosion is generated by a submerged turbulent jet impinging on the soil surface. Erosion is assumed to be generated by the maximum shear stress due to the jet. A number of empirical models have been proposed to calculate this shear stress. This study presents the results of the application of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to study the shear stress distribution of a circular turbulent jet impinging on both non-eroded (flat) and idealized eroded boundaries. The numerical results for the maximum shear stress are compared with existing models.