Investigation of mean flow and turbulence around submerged spur dikes

Riverbank erosion is a major concern around the world, caused by high river floods. Occurrences of intense floods in rivers, attributed to climate change, such as the recent (July 2023) incidents of cloudbursts and accompanying riverbank washouts in several parts of northern (Himalayan) India provide glaring examples. Protection against riverbank erosion is, therefore, a formidable engineering challenge and the present work proposes to study the effect of submerged spur dikes, which are short underwater structures, in arresting bank erosion. The proposal plans to investigate the velocity and turbulence field around the structure through experiments carried out in physical models in the home institution (at Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India) and complement these with computer simulations carried out at the host institution (University of Windsor, Canada). The findings from the project are expected to help in the adoption of more effective and eco-friendly approaches in tackling riverbank erosion and contribute to the long-term sustainability of river ecosystems.

Faculty Supervisor:

Ramaswami Balachandar

Student:

Partner:

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Windsor

Program: