Physical-computational modelling comparison in Ireland

Weisgerber, A. and Gutierrez Andres, J. and Wilson, G. and Marias, F. and Karanxha, A. and Clarke, R.T. and Millington, R. (2010) Physical-computational modelling comparison in Ireland. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Hydraulic Physical Modeling and Field Investigation.

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Abstract

A detailed physical model of the River Dargle was constructed at HR Wallingford’s physical modelling laboratory on behalf of Bray Town Council to examine the performance of a proposed channel re-grading and re-alignment of the river through Bray, south of Dublin, in Ireland. This physical model was unusual due to the complexity of the river channel, the size of the flood plain and the detail with which the urban areas were represented. Although built to address specific engineering questions, the model was subsequently used to run a series of fifteen additional tests aimed at better exploring a number of the key flow and modelling variables. Special attention was given to the urban floodplains where numerous control points were setup in order to capture detailed water-levels and velocity measurements. This has established a calibration data set for the floodplain and overland flow paths; areas where such data are not generally available for this type of modelling exercise. A numerical model comparison was then undertaken to represent the physical model at model scale within InfoWorks RS (an integrated 1D-2D software solution for simulating flows in rivers and on floodplains), allowing direct comparison with the physical model results. The numerical model will subsequently be re-run at prototype scale to investigate the magnitude of real world effects and to allow an evaluation of the scaling from model to prototype scales and how this relates to the adoption of scaling laws typically adopted for this type of model (e.g. Froude laws for vertically exaggerated models). This paper presents a description of the physical and numerical models used, along with some preliminary study findings.

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