Distribution of primary and secondary currents in sine-generated bends

Abstract

The secondary circulation in a meandering channel redistributes the velocity over the bend. However, the shift of primary flow by secondary currents is not quantitatively understood, due to the difficulty in isolating the role of curvature-driven secondary flow from that of topography-driven secondary flow in bed-deformed meanders. The influences of curvaturedriven and topography-driven secondary currents on the redistribution of primary flow in sine-generated meandering channels were examined by CCHE2D. The model is calibrated using data measured in two sets of laboratory experiments including flat-bed flow and mobile-bed flow. Analysis indicated that topography-induced current mainly contributes to the redistribution of primary flow from inner to outer bank in the curved channels, rather than the secondary flow driven by curvature.

Keywords: primary flow, secondary flow, meander, numerical analysis