Numerical Study of the Water Surface Movement on the Breaching Process of Natural Dams

In the proposed work, the process of movement of a water flow in an experimental canal with a natural earth dam is presented. The mathematical model was verified using experimental data from other authors. The mathematical model is based on 3D Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations. A good agreement of the results with the known experimental and numerical data was achieved, which is confirmed in the form of comparative graphs. The system of equations was closed using the k-w SST turbulence model. The volume of fluid (VOF) method was used to simulate a three-phase flow (sediment, water and air). The total simulation time for the main problem took 24.5 s. Numerical results showed that internal erosion of the mud dam body begins soon after the water flow reaches the trapezoidal obstacle. From the obtained results, it can be seen that during the time of the impact of the water flow on the earth dam, 30% of the initial state of the dam is almost lost. The obtained calculated data reasonably demonstrate the erosion of the earth dam body, which means that they can be useful in studying the behavior of mud dams in the future.