Floating rate of frazil ice particles in flowing water in bend channels – a three-dimensional numerical analysis

In this article, based on the theory of two-phase flow and laboratory data, a three-dimensionally model is developed to simulate the floating rates of frazil ice particles in water under covered condition. The Lagrangian trajectory method is used in the three dimensional simulation for floating rates of frazil ice particles along a 180° bend channel. The velocity profiles in longitudinal and transverse directions, the turbulence intensity, and the residual pressure are simulated. Under the condition of gravitational similarity, the simulated floating rates of frazil ice particles in the model bend channel and the prototype bend channels are compared. Results indicate that the profiles for floating rates of ice particles for flows in the model channel are similar to those in the prototype bend channels. The simulated floating rates of ice particles are clearly higher along the convex bank than along the concave bank at each cross section. For the prototype bend channel in a large model scale, the variation of floating rate across each cross section is relatively small.