The effect of oscillations on the flow patterns near a simulated bed

This work investigates the effect of oscillations on the flow near a simulated bed and their impact on erosion. Those oscillations were generated by using wavy lids at the top of a small toroidal channel. Particular attention is dedicated to their influence on the velocity field and turbulence near the bed. The experiments were made in a mini circular flume using a 2D LDA system. It was concluded that such oscillations induce non negligible shear stresses in the flow main stream, becoming more important to the dispersion of entrained matter into the flow than to the initiation of the erosion process.