Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Dam Break Flow Propagation Through Various Obstacle Configurations

Dam break failures can lead to the rapid propagation of flood waves across large areas, causing significant urban or industrial flooding. Such events would cause catastrophic risks to downstream populations and result in severe structural damage. Therefore, it is essential to forecast flood wave propagation over spaces containing macro-roughness, such as buildings, to assess and mitigate these risks. In this paper, datasets are provided from reduced scale physical experiments of transient flow through complex geometries. Specifically, the paper examines the propagation of flood waves over two idealized configurations. The experiments are conducted in a rectangular horizontal open channel, where flow conditions are achieved by rapidly opening a gate holding a volume of water. To assess the impact of obstacles on the flow behavior, different obstacle configurations and sizes are investigated and compared. The experiments provide complete water hydrographs upstream and downstream of the breach. Conductive and acoustic gauges are positioned at ten locations to track the wavefront and water depth variation. Additionally, Large-Scale Particle Image Velocimetry (LSPIV) digital image technique is employed to obtain instantaneous free surface velocity profiles and water surface patterns. Then, numerical simulations of the observed flows are performed using the open-source Navier–Stokes solver code_saturne. The free surface evolution is described using the Volume-Of-Fluid (VOF) method. The results are discussed, and the comparison between experimental data and numerical simulation results demonstrates a good agreement.