Flow Patterns and Turbulence Structures in a Scour

Hole Downstream of a Submerged Weir

Dawei Guan 1; Bruce W. Melville, M.ASCE 2; and Heide Friedrich 3
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Abstract: Scouring downstream of submerged weirs is a common problem resulting from the interaction of the three-dimensional turbulent
flow field around the structures and the mobile channel bed. This paper presents the distributions of flow patterns, bed shear stresses, and
turbulence structures in the approach flow and the scour hole downstream of a submerged weir. The experiments were conducted under the
clear-water scour condition for an equilibrium scour hole. The experimental results show that the flow structures are considerably changed by
the presence of the structure. A large recirculation zone and a flow reattachment region are formed downstream of the submerged weir.
Strongly paired cellular secondary flows are observed in the scour hole. The turbulence structures ahead of the recirculation zone govern
the dimensions of the scour hole. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0000803. 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Author keywords: Submerged weir; Scour; Flow pattern; Bed shear stress; Turbulence; Secondary flows.

Introduction the first investigators to detect the three-dimensional turbulence

Submerged weirs (or dams) are low-head hydraulic structures con-
structed in the channel of a waterway for the purpose of limiting
excessive channel-bed degradation, raising the upstream water
level, and reducing the flow velocity. The flow depth on the weir
crest is deep enough for barges to get through, even during dry
seasons. Thus, once built, such weirs will improve river navigation
conditions. In sloping, straight channels, several consecutive
submerged weirs can be constructed, if necessary. The effect of
a submerged weir is to suddenly change the channel-bed elevation.
This sudden change of bed elevation at a submerged weir not
only influences the flow pattern, but also results in local scour
downstream of the structures.
For practical purposes, the most important scour parameters
are the scour-hole dimensions (i.e., maximum scour depth ds and
length ls ) at the equilibrium phase. Therefore, maximum scour
depth and length have been widely studied, providing a selection
of empirical equations (Bormann and Julien 1991; DAgostino and
Ferro 2004; Marion et al. 2004; Chen et al. 2005; Marion et al.
2006) to be applied to the design of submerged weirs. However,
there are only a few studies on the flow structure in the scour hole
downstream of submerged weirs. Ben Meftah and Mossa (2006)
studied flow turbulence in an equilibrium scour hole downstream
of one weir in a sequence of weirs. Bhuiyan et al. (2007) were
1 median diameter d50 0.85 mm and relative submerged particle
Ph.D. Student, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of
Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand (correspond-
ing author). E-mail: dgua324@aucklanduni.ac.nz
2
Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of
Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand. E-mail:
b.melville@auckland.ac.nz
3
Lecturer, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of
Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand. E-mail:
h.friedrich@auckland.ac.nz
Note. This manuscript was submitted on August 9, 2012; approved on
July 16, 2013; published online on December 16, 2013. Discussion period
open until June 1, 2014; separate discussions must be submitted for indi-
vidual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering,
Vol. 140, No. 1, January 1, 2014. ASCE, ISSN 0733-9429/2014/1-68-
76/$25.00.
structure downstream of a W-weir in a meandering channel.
In order to precisely predict the scouring downstream of sub-
merged weirs, it is important to develop a good understanding
of the turbulence flow structures around such hydraulic structures.
The present study aims to obtain information on flow patterns,
boundary shear stresses, turbulence intensities, and Reynolds shear
stresses in the scour zone. The experiments were confined to the
clear-water scour condition and the scour hole downstream of one
single submerged weir at the equilibrium phase.
Experiments
Experimental Set-up
The experimental work was conducted in a 12-m-long, 0.38-m-
deep, and 0.44-m-wide glass-sided, tilting flume (Fig. 1) in the
Hydraulic Laboratory of the University of Auckland. At the up-
stream end of the flume, the water is fed into a mixing chamber
and enters the flume through a honeycomb flow straightener, which
effectively eliminates any rotational flow component induced in the
return pipelines, so that uniform flow is obtained. At the down-
stream end, sediment from the scour hole is trapped in a separated
hopper-like sump, from where pumps return the flow to the inlet
end of the flume.
The sediment used in the experiments was coarse sand, with
density 1.65. The sediment size distribution was near uniform,
with a standard deviation g 1.3. The weir used in the experi-
ments was a 10-mm-thick rectangular plastic plate, with the same
width as the flume. In the experiments, the weir was inserted into
the bed with a 40-mm protrusion from the initial flat bed, and was
located 4.5 m from the outlet of the flume. During the test, the
approach flow depth y and tail water depth yt were maintained
at 150 mm.
The upstream flow was fully developed in the experiment. The
average approach flow velocity U 0 for this experiment was esti-
mated from the vertical distribution of approach flow velocities
on the centerline of the flume in front of the weir, when the uniform
flow was achieved as shown in Fig. 2. The approach average flow

68 / JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING ASCE / JANUARY 2014

J. Hydraul. Eng., 2014, 140(1): 68-76

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Fig. 1. Schematic display of the flume
1000
water surface level 150mm
Flow Depth (mm)
100
10
1
0.22 0.24 0.26 0.28 0.3 0.32
Time-averaged velocity (m/s)
Fig. 2. Approach flow velocity profile (semilogarithmic coordinate
system)
velocity U 0 0.296 m=s was determined as the velocity at 0.368y
(Yalin 1992). The average approach flow shear velocity, u

0.014 m=s, was estimated from the logarithmic form of the velocity
profile (Fig. 2); the average approach flow critical shear velocity
u
c 0.021 m=s was determined using the Shields diagram for
the respective particle size (Melville 1997). Thus, the ratio of
bed shear to critical shear velocity for the approach flow (u
=u
c
0.67) was calculated. The corresponding Reynolds number (R
p is the standard deviation derived from the original data set. The
Uy=) and Froude number (F U= gy) were 44,400 and 0.24,
respectively.
Bed Profile and Velocity Measurement
Theoretically, for clear-water scour, the equilibrium of the scour
process should be defined as the condition when the dimensions
of the scour hole do not grow with time. However, even in small-
scale laboratory experiments, it may take several days or weeks
to attain equilibrium conditions (Melville and Chiew 1999). Thus
it is important to conduct continuing bed-profile measurements to
understand the scour process and ensure the scour equilibrium
phase is obtained. The three-dimensional scour geometry down-
stream of the weir was measured throughout the experiment using
Seateks multiple transducer arrays (MTAs) (SeaTek Instrumenta-
tion, Florida) as a function of time. This instrument is an ultrasonic
ranging system, comprising 32 transducers, which can detect the
distance from the sensors to reflective objects. The measuring ac-
curacy of the system is approximately 1 mm. A detailed descrip-
tion of this device can be found in Friedrich et al. (2005). During
the test, only 27 transducers were employed, among which two
transducers were used for water surface measurements, with a
125-mm interval. The transducers were mounted in a rectangular
J. Hydraul. Eng., 2014, 140(1): 68-76
0.34
Fig. 3. Sensor arrangement for measuring water surface and bed
profiles
grid (see Fig. 3) on a carriage that can be moved along the top rail
of the flume. The system was operated at 5 Hz and allowed meas-
urement of the whole scour region in about 1 min. Taking into ac-
count the detection of suspended sediment particles, the outliers of
the raw bed profile data were filtered in the data postprocessing.
The procedure of the program was to use 3 as the threshold
for the outlier detection (well known as the 3- rule), where
filtered data were then analyzed by spline interpolation procedures.
The final resolution of each processed bed profile is 10 10 mm.
At the start of the experiment, the sediment bed was levelled
with a scraper after setting the weir. The flume was then filled
to the desired water depth. The filling process took place slowly
to avoid disturbance around the weir before the actual experiment.
Water temperature was measured in order to set the initial exper-
imental parameters for the MTAs. After starting both pumps with
the required settings, the water depth and the slope of the flume
were adjusted to get uniform flow for the approach flow upstream
of the weir, while the flow depth downstream of the weir was con-
trolled by adjusting the location of an overflow pipe in the sump.
When uniform flow was obtained, bed profiles and water surface
were measured with 27 MTAs sensors as a function of time. The
scour process lasted around 23 days until the scour hole reached
equilibrium. The time evolution of maximum scour depth and final
scour geometry are shown in Figs. 4 and 5. As shown in Fig. 4, the
temporal development of the scour hole experiences three stages.
The maximum scour depth ds develops very quickly during the first
day, then progresses at a decreasing rate over the following 19 days,
as it approaches the equilibrium stage. During the final stage, the
values of ds fluctuated around an average value of 151 mm, which
JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING ASCE / JANUARY 2014 / 69
 160
The closest measuring location to the bed was always 5 mm from
the bed surface. At each measurement point, 2-min samples were
dse collected. Throughout the experiments, the signal-to-noise (SNR)
120 ratio for each beam was maintained above 15. After the experi-
ds (mm) ments were completed, the output data from the velocimeter were
80 filtered using WinADV software (Wahl 2000). The filter was set to
remove spikes [using the phase-space threshold method of Goring
40 and Nikora (2002)] and data with low correlation (Minimum
COR < 70). Although the best configurations for the velocimeter
were carefully chosen during the experiments, the results for some
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 locations at 8.5 to 10 cm above the bed in the centerline longitu-
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t (day) dinal section still had relatively high noise and low correlations.
These locations are called velocimeter weak spots or velocity holes,
Fig. 4. Temporal development of the maximum scour depth and are mainly caused by the return signal interference from the
boundary (Martin et al. 2002). After filtering, around 55% of data
for these weak spots were of good quality and therefore retained.
For all other measurement points, more than 80% of the data were
is taken as the maximum scour depth at the equilibrium phase (dse ) retained after filtering. The velocity power spectrum for the filtered
in this study. data points was examined with Kolmogorovs 5=3 law, conform-
After the scour hole reached equilibrium, the flow field ing that the data presented in this paper are of high quality.
was measured using a three-component, downward-facing Nortek
Vectrino+ acoustic velocimeter (Nortek AS, Rud, Norway). The
probe measures the velocities 50 mm beneath the acoustic transmit- Results and Discussion
ter, which must be submerged, and consequently velocities within
the first 55-mm depth beneath the water surface were not measured.
Measurements were taken along the centerline longitudinal section Two-Dimensional Velocity Distribution
and on three other transverse cross sections. The velocimeter was Fig. 6 shows the distribution of time-averaged velocity vectors
used with a sampling rate of 200 Hz. The sampling volume was on the centerline longitudinal section. The velocity vectors are
cylindrical, having a 6-mm diameter and an adjustable height vary- determined from the average values of the streamwise and vertical
ing from 1 to 7 mm. As suggested by Dey et al. (2011), the sam- velocity components. It can be seen that the upstream flow is quite
pling height was set as 12.5 mm in the near-bed zone to avoid uniform, even at the equilibrium stage. When this uniform flow
interfering with sediment particles; a 4-mm sampling height was approaches the submerged weir, the flow pattern is altered by the
used in the upper flow zone of the centerline longitudinal section, sudden change of bed elevation. The approach flow is accelerated
and a 7-mm height for the three other transverse cross sections. at the crest of the weir, and a weak back flow is created immediately

Section U Section M Section D

Transverse Direction (mm)

200
0

40

100
0
-10

-140
0

-80

-60
-40

-40

0
-120

20
0

-100

0
20

-2
-80
0

-20

-1

0
-60

20
-20

-100
0

-140
-200
-0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Longitudinal Direction (m)

Fig. 5. Scour geometry at the equilibrium phase, contours in millimeters

200
Vertical distance (mm)

100

0
Recirculation zone
-100 Flow reattachment region 0.20 m/s

-0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Longitudinal distance (m)

Fig. 6. Velocity vectors distribution in the centerline longitudinal section

70 / JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING ASCE / JANUARY 2014

J. Hydraul. Eng., 2014, 140(1): 68-76

 upstream of the weir. At the upstream base of the weir, a small scour
hole (around 20-mm depth) was observed, which was produced by
weak vortices, generated by the interaction of the approach flow
and the associated back flow. Downstream of the weir, a large
recirculation zone developed (Fig. 6). Immediately downstream of
the weir, vortices can be clearly observed, indicated by a recirculat-
ing movement of sediment close to the weir. For other parts of this
zone, the occasionally random movement of sediment particles is
seen at the equilibrium phase of scouring. At the rear of the recir-
culation zone, the main flow reattaches to the bed, creating the
flow reattachment region (Fig. 6). Inside this region, the flow is
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considerably turbulent, and the velocities are quite small. The
observed maximum scour-depth point (1.06 m away from the weir)
is located close to the end of this region. When the flow passes the
maximum scour-depth cross section, no obvious reverse velocities
can be seen on the centerline longitudinal section, and a relatively
uniform flow is redeveloped downstream of the end of the
scour hole.
The time-averaged velocity vector distributions in three trans-
verse cross sections (here taken as sections U, M, and D, respec-
tively; see Fig. 5), which are located at x 0.50 m, 1.06 m, and
2.75 m, respectively, are presented in Fig. 7. These vectors are
determined from the mean velocities of the transverse and vertical
velocity components. As indicated in Fig. 7, secondary flows de-
velop at all three cross sections. For the U and D cross sections [see
Figs. 7(a and c)], especially for the former one, the magnitude of
the velocity vectors is relatively small compared with those in the
maximum depth cross section M [Fig. 7(b)]. This is driven by
cross-sectional anisotropic turbulence (Prandtl 1952); the strong
secondary flows observed in the maximum depth cross section M
[Fig. 7(b)], being categorized as Prandtl second kind (driven by
turbulence). The secondary flows are characterized by paired cir-
cular flow cells, which are quasi-symmetrically located at both
sides of the centerline sand ridge. A similar flow pattern can be
seen in Fig. 7(c); this figure also shows nonsymmetry in flows, this
being related to the nonsymmetrical bed surface. The pattern of
cellular secondary flows and the associated observed sand ridge
in this research is consistent with the observations and theory of
Nezu and Nakagawa (1984) and Nezu et al. (1988). These secon-
dary flows have a significant effect upon the development of
the scour hole and the final bed geometry. They also account for
the formation of the centerline sand ridge and help to explain the
deepest point of scour hole being found close to the side wall, rather
than on the centerline of the flume. The ratio of the maximum scour
depth on the centerline to the maximum scour depth in the scour
150
(a) 0.02 m/s
100
Vertical distance (mm)
50
0 0
150
(c) 0.02 m/s
100
50
-200 -100 0 100
Transversal distance (mm)
Fig. 7. Velocity vectors distribution in the U, M, and D cross sections
J. Hydraul. Eng., 2014, 140(1): 68-76
hole is 84% (127 mm=151 mm), which implies that the effect of
secondary flows cannot be ignored when studying clear water scour
at submerged weirs in a relatively deep flow. It should be noted that
the flow aspect ratio (flume width/flow depth) at section M is
around 1.5, which means side wall effects also contribute to the
formation of secondary flows in the scour hole and to the scour-
hole geometry. In a large river, the flow aspect ratio is larger, which
might increase the number of secondary flow cells and change the
scour-hole geometry.
Bed Shear Stress
At the equilibrium stage of clear-water scour, the stability of sedi-
ment particles in the scour hole is based on the equilibrium con-
ditions of the forces acting on them, which can be simplified as a
balance of flow drag force FD , lift force FL , and submerged weight
of sediment particles FG . Accordingly, the critical shear stress c0 of
sediment particles resting on a bed, sloping in the streamwise
direction, can be defined by the following equation:
 
c0 tan
cos 1 1
c tan
where c0 = critical shear stress on a sloping bed; c = critical shear
stress on a horizontal bed (calculated as u2
c 0.45 Pa); = bed
slope (measured from an horizontal datum); and = submerged
angle of repose of sediment (taken as 36, as measured in this
study). A complete analysis of incipient sediment motion on non-
horizontal slopes can be found in Chiew and Parker (1994). Inside
the equilibrium scour hole, reversed velocity vectors are observed
on the upstream slope (Fig. 6).
According to past research (Kim et al. 2000; Biron et al. 2004;
Pope et al. 2006), four common methods can be used for the es-
timation of bed shear stress with experimental data: (1) reach aver-
age method, (2) current velocity profiles (law of the wall, or log
profile method), (3) Reynolds stress measurement, and (4) TKE
(turbulence kinetic energy) method. The assumptions, suitability,
and limitations of these four methods have been critically reviewed
by Kim et al. (2000) and Biron et al. (2004). Considering the appli-
cability of these four methods, two of them are employed in this
study, namely, the Reynolds shear stress measurement and the TKE
method. The Reynolds shear stresses, x;z , are defined as u 0 w 0 .
The turbulent kinetic energy density, E, is calculated from
1
E u02 v02 w02 2
2
150
(b) 0.02 m/s
Vertical distance (mm)
100
50
-50
-100
-150
200 -200 -100 0 100 200
Transversal distance (mm)
JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING ASCE / JANUARY 2014 / 71
 where u 0 , v 0 , w 0 are fluctuation velocity components along
the downstream, transverse and vertical directions, respectively.
A simple relationship between TKE and bed shear stress has been
formulated as 0 CE (Soulsby 1981), where 0 is bed shear
stress and C is an empirical coefficient. The empirical factor C
was found to be 0.20 (Soulsby 1981), while 0.19 has been adopted
by others (Stapleton and Huntley 1995; Thompson et al. 2003;
Pope et al. 2006) and has been found to apply to a complex flow
fields (Biron et al. 2004). Therefore, C 0.19 has been used in
this study. The critical question of obtaining bed shear stress esti-
mates using single point measurements is how to determine the
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appropriate measurement height above the bed. According to the
recommendation of Biron et al. (2004), the best option for using
single-point measurements to estimate bed shear stress is to posi-
tion the instrument at around 10% of the flow depth. Then, it is
above the thickness of the roughness layer and is less affected
by unexpected increases in SNR or Doppler noise that may occur
closer to the bed (Finelli et al. 1999; Kim et al. 2000). The mea-
sured points for estimating bed shear stresses in this study were
all set at 10 mm above the bed. The measured and calculated values
for these near-bed points were used for direct estimation of bed
shear stress.
Threshold bed stresses, measured Reynolds shear stresses, and
calculated bed stresses were obtained, and a comparison of the ex-
perimental bed shear stresses and local threshold bed shear stresses
obtained from Eq. (1) is presented in Fig. 8. It should be noted that
the values of critical bed shear stresses on the upstream slope of the
scour hole are negative, which corresponds to the direction of the
bottom reverse flow, while in Fig. 8 only absolute values are used
for comparison. It can be seen that for the approach flow and near
the end of the scour hole, bed stresses obtained from the observed
Reynolds shear stresses and from the TKE method do not exceed
the threshold. This is consistent with the experiment being con-
ducted under conditions of no general sediment transport. Although
reverse flows are observed on the upstream slope of the scour hole,
the values of measured Reynolds shear stresses are still positive in
this region, which is consistent with the velocity gradients still
being positive close to the bed (Figs. 6 and 8). For this case,
estimation of bed shear stress from near bed Reynolds shear stress
measurements may be unreliable, because the measurement equip-
ment is incapable of acquiring data in the negative velocity gradient
layer, which is very thin (less than 10 mm) and just above the bed.
At the upstream end of the recirculation zone, the experimental bed
stresses considerably exceed the absolute threshold values, which
is in agreement with our experimental observations. In this area,
200
Flow
Vertical distance (mm)
100
0 0
Original Bed Line
100
-200
-0.5 0 0.5
Longitudinal distance (m)
Fig. 8. A comparison of estimated shear stress and threshold shear stress along the centerline upstream and downstream of the submerged weir
72 / JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING ASCE / JANUARY 2014
J. Hydraul. Eng., 2014, 140(1): 68-76
frequent sediment recirculating movements were observed during
the experiment, including at equilibrium, but they did not result
in deepening of the scour hole. Elsewhere within the scour hole,
measured Reynolds shear stresses are around or below the thresh-
old and calculated bed shear stresses are slightly greater than the
threshold values. Considering the form of Eq. (2), the TKE method
takes into account the three-dimensional velocity fluctuations, thus
it is less applicable when used for two-dimensional estimation,
especially when secondary flows exist. This may account for the
overestimation in the scour hole. On the downstream slope of the
scour hole, near-bed velocity accelerates as flow depth decreases,
which causes a reduction to the velocity gradient. As a result, the
measured Reynolds shear stresses are very close to zero and are
below the threshold values.
Turbulence Characteristics
Turbulence Intensities
Contours of the turbulence intensity distributions for the longitu-
dinal direction and three transverse cross sections (U, M, and D)
are presented in Figs. 9 and 10, respectively. The contour values
for the downstream, transverse and vertical directions are calcu-
lated from
q q q
u 0 2 v 0 2 w 0 2
TI u ; TI v ; TI w 3
U0 U0 U0
where U 0 is the average approach flow velocity. For the centerline
longitudinal section, the turbulence intensities for all three direc-
tions show a very similar distribution [Figs. 9(ac)]. More specifi-
cally, the values of TI u , TI v , and TI w upstream of the weir are
rather small compared with those in the scour hole. The peak values
are found immediately downstream of the weir and above the origi-
nal bed level. Downstream of the locations of the peak values, the
turbulence intensities are damped, as the distance from the weir
increases. It is important to note that the positions where the peak
values of turbulence intensities occur are found at the upstream end
of the recirculation zone. Furthermore, the measurements of the
turbulence intensities in the centerline longitudinal section show
the turbulent flow to be anisotropic, with u 0 1.2v 0 1.7w 0 .
Fig. 10 shows turbulence intensity distributions in three trans-
versal cross sections (U, M, and D). For section U [Figs. 10(ac)],
although the turbulence intensities are very small compared with
those in the scour hole, a trend can be observed. The areas of very
(Pa)
1.5
1
Bed Shear stress
0.5
-0.5
Observed Reynolds Shear Stress
Scour Hole
Calculated Bed Shear Stress (TKE)
Threshold Bed Shear Stress
1 1.5 2 2.5
 200
Vertical distance (mm)
100
0.07 0.15 0.4
0.45

5
0.2
0.1 0.4 0.3 5

0.1
0 0.2
0.3 0.3
0.25 0.25
0.2
-100
(a)
200
Vertical distance (mm)

100 0.06 0.25

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0.15 0.3 0.15

0.08 0.4 0.35 0.2
0 0.3
0.25 0.25 0.25
0.2
-100 5 0.2
(b)
200
Vertical distance (mm)

100
0.04 0 5 0.2 0.15 0.08
0. 0. 3 0.25 0.2
0.04 0.25 0.08
0 0.2
0.2 0.15 0.1
-100 0.15
(c)
-0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Longitudinal distance (m)

Fig. 9. Turbulence intensity distributions in the centreline longitudinal section: (a) downstream; (b) transverse; (c) vertical directions, respectively

TIu TIv TIw

Vertical distance (mm)

150
(a) (b) (c)

Section U
100 0.06 0.0
5

0.07
0.03

0.07 0.07 0.07 0.07 5 0.043

4
0.06 0 . 03

0.04
0.08 0.08 0.08 0 .0 7 0.035
50 8
9 0.09 0.0 0.0
8 0.09 0 .0 3
0.0 0.1 9 0.08 0.08 0.0 0.04 0.04 0.035
0.11
0.1 0.09 0.09 8 0.038
0
150
(d) (e) (f)
Vertical distance (mm)

100 0.18
0.36 0.16
0.26
6

0.26 0.2 0.18

0.3

0.22
50 0.34 0.28

Section M
0.28 0.2
0.34 0.28
32
0.

0
28 0.26
0. 0.1
0.2
0.24 6
0.

-50
18

0.2 0.3 0.28

6
0.24 0.16 0.18
0.22 26 0 .2 4
-100 0.
0.

0.18 0.12 0.16

24

0.18 0.22 0.1

Vertical distance (mm)

-150
150
(g) (h) (i)
Section D

100 85 0.1 0.1 0.12

0.0 0.1 0.1 0.15 0.05
0.1

0.15 0.085 0.12 0.1 0.06

0.1 0.1 0.1 0.05
50 2 0.1 0.12 0. 1 0.18 0.05 0.0 05
0. 0.04
0 .1 0.15 0.1 2 0.1
0.18 2 0.1 0.04 0.035 4

0
-150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150
Transversal distance (mm) Transversal distance (mm) Transversal distance (mm)

Fig. 10. Turbulence intensity distributions in the U, M, and D cross sections

low turbulence intensities correspond with areas of high streamwise the bed decreases. The decrease of turbulence intensities closer to
velocities. The same can be observed in straight natural rivers. For the bed, which is in line with the dissipating trend of upstream tur-
section M [Figs. 10(df)], turbulence intensities are highest around bulence intensities, is caused by the damping effect of bed boun-
5 cm above the original bed level and reduce as the distance from daries. With respect to section D [see Figs. 10(gi)], turbulence

JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING ASCE / JANUARY 2014 / 73

J. Hydraul. Eng., 2014, 140(1): 68-76

 200

Vertical distance (mm) 100

0.006 0.15 0.02
0.22
0.01 0.2 0.12 0.1 8 0.04
0.15 0.0
0 0.06
0.1
0.06 0.08
-100 0.06

-0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Longitudinal distance (m)

Fig. 11. TKE distribution in the centerline longitudinal section

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200
Vertical distance (mm)

100 0.3 0.3 10 10 1 .5 0.5 0.3

24 20 15
0.5
10 5 3
0 10
5 1.5 0.5
3 5 3
3
-100 3 0.3

-0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Longitudinal distance (m)

Fig. 12. Normalized Reynolds shear stress distribution in the centerline longitudinal section

uw uv vw
Vertical distance (mm)

150
(a) (b) (c)

Section U
100
0.08 0.2 0
-0.1

0. 0.06

0
0. 0.08 0
-0.1
0
0.1

-0.3

0.3
1

03
0

0.5 0.7 0.03 6

-0.
0 .3

-0.05
0.5 0 0
0.3

50 -0.3 0 0.0
0.5

0.7 0.1 0.0 0.03 -0.08

0.7 3
0.8 0.5 0.3 0
0

-0.05
0
150
(d) (e) (f)
100
Vertical distance (mm)

6 10 10 0 1 -2
1
12
2

8 2 2 0
0

0
-2

14
-2

50 12 10
0
2

12 0
Section M
0
6

12 2
2

10 0
6
4

10 8 1
0

0 -1
10
8 -1 0
0

8 -6 10 2 3 1
-50 -4
6 -2 0 1 1
6 8 2
2

-1

4 2 4 0
-100 4 6 4 0
2 -2
1

4
Vertical distance (mm)

-150
150
(g) (h) (i)
Section D

100
2 0
0. 0
0.

0.6
0

0.2
0.2

0.5
15

1
0.2

-0.15

0.6
11.5
0.6 0.2 0 -0.15
0

50 0.8 0.5
0

1 0.8 0
0

1 -0.5 0.3 -0.3

0
-150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150
Transversal distance (mm) Transversal distance (mm) Transversal distance (mm)

Fig. 13. Normalized Reynolds shear stresses distributions in the U, M, and D cross sections

74 / JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING ASCE / JANUARY 2014

J. Hydraul. Eng., 2014, 140(1): 68-76

 intensities in all directions are damped, resulting in considerably
smaller values, less than those in the scour hole, while still exceed-
ing values observed in the upstream cross section U. The distribu-
tions of TI u , TI v , and TI w show a certain degree of irregularity,
compared to the distributions in the upstream cross section.
The distribution of normalized TKE, which is calculated from
E=U 20 , in the centerline longitudinal section, is shown in Fig. 11,
and highlights a similar pattern to that observed for turbulence
intensities. As previously reported (Bradshaw et al. 1967), TKE
reflects the energy extracted from the mean flow by the motion of
the turbulent eddies. Thus it is possible to conclude that the strong-
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by National Institute Technology - Silchar on 11/04/16. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
est and largest eddies are developed at the upstream end of the
recirculation zone.
Reynolds Shear Stress
Figs. 12 and 13 present the distributions of normalized Reynolds
shear stresses for the centerline longitudinal section and three trans-
verse cross sections (U, M, and D). The Reynolds stresses values
here are calculated from
u 0 w 0 u 0 v 0 v 0 w 0
uw ; uv ; vw 4
u2
u2
u2

where u
= average approach flow shear velocity. Fig. 12 shows
that the largest Reynolds shear stresses uw occur immediately
downstream of the weir, with values dissipating in the scour
hole and further downstream. As supported by the distribution of
TKE (Fig. 11) and the distribution of uw (Fig. 12) in the centerline
longitudinal section, it is possible to infer that the large magnitude
of turbulence structure on the upstream slope of the scour hole
governs the scour hole size (maximum scour depth and length).
This is in agreement with work undertaken by Ben Meftah and
Mossa (2006).
As seen in Figs. 13(a, d, and g), Reynolds shear stresses uw
and uv are dominant, while vw values are relatively small in
all three cross sections. It also can be seen that the highest Reynolds
shear stress values are found near the bottom of the sections, for
both U and D, while for section M they are observed around the
original bed level. Thus bottom friction at sections U and D was the
dominant factor to account for shear stress distributions, but for
section M the distributions of Reynolds shear stresses are strongly
dependent on upstream dissipating shear stresses.
As discussed above, secondary flows are observed at all
three sections (U, M, and D; see Fig. 7). The values of uv in
Figs. 13(b, e, and h) also reveal secondary flows. Negative uv
values are found on the left side of the flume centerline, while pos-
itive values are observed on the right side, as seen in Fig. 13(e),
showing a certain degree of symmetry. Similar patterns can be seen
in Figs 13(b and h). Since the values of uv and vw should be zero
when no secondary flows exist, the Reynolds shear stress values not
only reveal the concentration of turbulence, but also indicate the
intensities of secondary flows.
Conclusions
The results of an experimental study of flow patterns, bed shear
stresses, and turbulence structures in the approach flow towards
a submerged weir, and the resulting scour hole are presented.
The experiments were undertaken in clear-water scour conditions
in a laboratory flume. The equilibrium scour-hole condition was
obtained. The three-dimensional flow-field data was obtained by
a Nortek Vectrino+ acoustic velocimeter.
The results show that the presence of a submerged weir con-
siderably changed the flow structure. Along the flume centerline
JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING ASCE / JANUARY 2014 / 75
J. Hydraul. Eng., 2014, 140(1): 68-76
longitudinal direction, a recirculation zone and a flow reattachment
region are developed. The turbulence structures at the upstream end
of the recirculation zone govern the dimensions of the scour hole,
as indicated by the observed maximum turbulence intensities, TKE,
and Reynolds shear stresses on the upstream slope of the scour
hole. The location of maximum scour depth is found at the rear of
the flow reattachment region and close to the left flume glass wall.
The observed Reynolds shear stress near the bed and the calculated
bed shear stresses from TKE method are larger than absolute values
of critical bed shear stresses immediately downstream of the weir,
and smaller than critical bed shear stresses elsewhere in the scour
hole and further downstream.
For the transverse direction, strongly paired cellular secondary
flows are observed in the scour hole. A certain degree of symmetry
of Reynolds shear stress uv distributions at cross sections are
observed, which directly account for the formation of secondary
flows. These secondary flows have a significant effect upon the
development of the scour hole and the final bed geometry. Their
effect should be considered in the study of scour at low-head
structures in a relatively deep flow.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank China Scholarship Council (CSC)
for the financial support of this research.
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
C = empirical factor used in TKE method for calculating bed
shear stress;
ds = maximum scour depth;
dse = maximum scour depth at the equilibrium phase
d50 = median diameter;
E = turbulence kinetic energy density;
FD = flow drag force exert on a sediment particle;
FG = submerged weight of a sediment particle;
FL = lift force on a sediment particle;
g = gravity;
ls = maximum scour length;
TI u , TI v , TI w = turbulence intensities along the downstream,
transverse, and vertical directions, respectively;
t = scour time;
U 0 = average approach flow velocity;
u, v, w = mean velocity components along the downstream,
transverse, and vertical directions, respectively;
u 0 , v 0 , w 0 = fluctuation velocity components along the downstream,
transverse, and vertical directions, respectively;
u
= average approach flow shear velocity;
u
c = average approach flow critical shear velocity;
y = approach flow depth;
yt = tail water depth;
c = critical shear stress on a horizontal bed;
c0 = critical shear stress on a sloping bed;
uw , uv , vw = normalized Reynolds shear stresses;
0 = bed shear stress;
= relative submerged particle density;
= bed slope;
= submerged angle of repose of sediment;
= water density;
s = sediment density;
g = standard deviation; and
= kinematic viscosity of fluid, considered as 1 106 m2 =s.
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