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Updated: Feb 20, 2026

Simultaneous Measurement of Turbulence and Particle Kinematics Using Flow Imaging Techniques
Published on: March 12, 2019
Bed turbulent kinetic energy boundary conditions for trapping efficiency and spatial distribution of sediments in
Gilles Isenmann1, Matthieu Dufresne1, José Vazquez1
1National School for Water and Environmental Engineering of Strasbourg (ENGEES), 1 quai Koch, Strasbourg 67000, France and Mechanics Department, Fluid Mechanics Team, ICube (University of Strasbourg, CNRS, INSA of Strasbourg, ENGEES), 2 rue Boussingault, Strasbourg 67000, France
Abstract:
The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a numerical tool for evaluating the performance of a settling basin regarding the trapping of suspended matter. The Euler-Lagrange approach was chosen to model the flow and sediment transport. The numerical model developed relies on the open source library OpenFOAM®, enhanced with new particle/wall interaction conditions to limit sediment deposition in zones with favourable hydrodynamic conditions (shear stress, turbulent kinetic energy). In particular, a new relation is proposed for calculating the turbulent kinetic energy threshold as a function of the properties of each particle (diameter and density). The numerical model is compared to three experimental datasets taken from the literature and collected for scale models of basins. The comparison of the numerical and experimental results permits concluding on the model's capacity to predict the trapping of particles in a settling basin with an absolute error in the region of 5% when the sediment depositions occur over the entire bed. In the case of sediment depositions localised in preferential zones, their distribution is reproduced well by the model and trapping efficiency is evaluated with an absolute error in the region of 10% (excluding cases of particles with very low density).
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