Air Diffusion and Velocity Characteristics of Self-Aerated Developing Region in Flat Chute Flows

Abstract

Self-aerated flows in flat chutes are encountered downstream of the bottom outlet, in spillways with a small slope and in storm waterways. In the present study, the development of self-aeration in flat chute flow is described and new experiments are performed in a long flat chute with a pressure outlet for different flow discharge rates. The distribution of air concentration, time mean velocity and velocity fluctuation in flow direction in the self-aerated developing region—where air bubbles do not diffuse next to the channel bottom—were measured and analyzed. The region of self-aeration from free surface was about 27.16% to 51.85% of the water depth in the present study. The analysis results revealed that the maximum distance of air bubble diffusion to the channel bottom increased with the development of self-aeration along the flow direction. This indicates that for flat chute flow, the process of air bubble diffusion from free surface to channel bottom was relatively long. Cross-section velocities increased along the flow direction in the self-aerated developing region, and this trend was much more remarkable in the area near water free surface. The velocity fluctuations in flow direction in cross-sections flattened and increased with the development of self-aerated flow. Higher velocity fluctuations in flow direction corresponded to the presence of much stronger turbulence, which enhanced air bubble diffusion from the water free surface to channel bottom along the flow direction.