Proceedings of the 19th IAHR-APD Congress 2014, Hanoi, Vietnam

ISBN 978604821338-1

EFFECTS OF SPUR DIKES ON FLOW STRUCTURES IN A RIVERSIDE CONCAVITY ZONE

AKIHIRO TOMINAGA(1), NAOYA KOJIMA(2) & TOMOMICHI KATO(3)

(1)
Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya, Japan, Email: tominaga.akihiro@nitech.ac.jp
(2)
Graduate Student, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya, Japan, 25418524@stn.nitech.ac.jp
(3)
Graduate Student, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya, Japan, 26418518@stn.nitech.ac.jp

ABSTRACT
A riverside concavity defined as the dead-water zone connecting with the main stream. Such a dead water zone tends to
cause recirculation eddies and resultantly the deposition of suspended sediment. The function of s pur dikes can be used
to control the flow pattern in a concavity zone. In this study, effects of spur dike placed upstream side in a main channel
on flow structures in a side concavity zone were investigated. The velocity was measured by using PIV method in a
laboratory flume. Location distance of the spur dike from the upstream end of the concavity zone and the length of spur
dikes were changed under two different discharges and their effects were considered. The flow patterns, magnitude of
recirculation eddy and water exchange velocity in the concavity zone were changed by these parameters. The
reattachment length of the separated wake zone behind the spur dike is important for the control of the flow structures
in the concavity zone. When the reattachment point lies upstream of the downstream end of the concavity, the flow in
the concavity is accelerated. When the reattachment point exceeds the concavity zone, the flow pattern in the concavity
is extremely changed and the water exchange becomes very weak. The effects of spur dike are changed with water
depth because the length of the separation zone behind spur dike is reduced in cases of submerged spur dike.

Keywords: riverside concavity, spur dike, reattachment, recirculation, PIV, flow structure

1. INTRODUCTION channel. Nugroho & Tominaga (2009) studied the effects

of entrance configuration in the exchange process along a
A riverside concavity zone is often constructed for the
riverside concavity. When the length of entrance zone is
purpose of a ship harbor, a water recreation site and an
long relatively to the width, an inlet eddy was generated
ecological habitat. In ecological aspects, it is expected to
in a conjunction zone and the indirect inflow generates
provide a spawning ground and habitat for young fish in
consequential vortices with smaller magnitude than the
ordinary water stage and evacuation space in high water
direct inflow. They found that the water exchange rate is
stage. The necessary functions of the riverside concavity
generally proportional to the velocity scale in the
zone are to keep calm condition even in a flood
concavity area. Cai & Tominaga (2012) studied turbulent
condition, and to keep good water quality in a low water
flow structure around box groynes with a longitudinal
stage. Such a dead water zone tends to cause
block. The longitudinal block affects the types of
recirculation eddies and resultantly the deposition of
circulating flow inside the box groyne. Tominaga &
suspended sediment. In this condition, eddy structures
Urayama (2012) studied the effects of piling along a side
and a water exchange between a main flow and a dead-
concavity. The blocking of interface area of concavity
water zone are important. Uijttewaal et al. (2001), Yossef
zone is effective to reduce the deposition of suspended
and Vriend (2004), Weitbrecht et al.(2007) studied flow
sediment and they found that the amount of sand
structures and mass exchange between main flow and
deposition decreased in proportion to the mass exchange
side concavity or groyne field. Kimura & Hosoda (1997),
coefficient.
Hinterberger et al. (2006) and McCoy et al. (2008)
conducted numerical investigations of flow with side On the other hand, it is considered that the function of
concavity zone. In a riverside concavity zone, it is spur dikes can be used to control the flow pattern in a
important to prevent siltation in middle and high-water concavity zone. Rajaratnum and Nwachukwu (1983)
stage. Partial blocking is considered to be a measure of indicated the detailed flow structures around spur dikes
reducing sediment deposition in a concavity zone. A few on fixed bed. Super dikes have functions to decelerate the
researchers treated the partially blocked concavity on velocity behind them and to deflect the flow toward the
their experiment. Kawahara (1995), Nezu et al. (2001) and main flow region. This generates the separation region
Nezu & Onitsuka (2002) studied the flow structures and behind the spur dike and the deflected flow reattached at
momentum exchange in the variation of partition length the point some distance downstream. The length of the
and en-trance location between main channel and dead- separation zone is called the reattachment length.
water-zone. Tominaga & Jong (2010) investigated flow
In this study, effects of spur dike placed upstream side in
structures and a water exchange in an concavity zone
a main channel on flow structures in a side concavity
connected to a main stream through a conjunction

1
zone were investigated. The velocity was measured by Table 1. Experimental Conditions
using PIV method in a laboratory flume. Location
distance of the spur dike from the upstream end of the
concavity zone and the length of spur dike were changed
and their effects were considered. Furthermore, the
relative flow depth was changed because the flow
structures are extremely changed when spur dikes are
submerged.

2. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES

The experiments were conducted in a 7.5m long, 0.3m

wide and 0.4m high rectangular flume. The slope of the
flume S was set to 0.0005. The flood plain was 0.1m in
width and 0.063m in height which was set on one side by
cumulating vinyl-chloride plates. Then, the width of
main channel Bm was 0.2m. A concavity zone was
located 3.0m downstream from the channel entrance. The
open width Bc was 0.2m and the perspective length Lc
was 0.1m. The spur dike model was made of transparent
acrylic resin and the height hs was 0.045m and the width
was 0.01m. The length of spur dike L was changed from
0.02m, 0.03m to 0.05m. These spur dike models were set
besides the flood plain of upstream side with the distance
Ls of 0m, 0.1m and 0.2m from the upstream end of the
concavity zone. The discharge Q was 0.00087m3/s and
0.00217m 3/s, and then the water depth h was set to
0.035m that is below the spur dike height (the emerged
case) and 0.06m that is above the spur dike height (the
submerged case) by adjusting the downstream weir. The
experimental conditions were shown in Table 1 and the
schematic view of concavity zone and spur-dike
arrangement was shown in Figure 1. Here, U0 is the mean
bulk velocity in the main channel. In the present
experiments, the Froude number was limited to around
0.2 in order to suppress large fluctuation of water surface
for flow visualization purpose. Therefore the distribution
and fluctuation of water depth was not measured in this
study.
Velocity vectors were measured by PIV method in
horizontal planes. For visualizing the flow, nylon resin
particle with 80 micron in diameter and 1.02 in specific
weight was used. A green laser light sheet with about
3mm thickness was projected on horizontal (x-y) planes
in the embayment zone. The heights of the laser
projection in horizontal planes were 5 to 30mm with
5mm interval in emerged cases and were 5 to 55 mm with
5mm interval in submerged cases. The visual images
were taken by a high speed video camera with 200
frames in a second and they were recorded in the hard
disk of the computer as bitmap files with 640 x 480 pixels.
The velocity vectors were calculated with a cross
correlation method by using the commercial PIV
software (FlowExpert by Katokoken). The resolution of
the image analysis was 32x32 pixels and the overlaping
was 75%. Time-averaged velocity vectors were obtained
by processing 3200 successive images in 16s.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Planar Velocity Vectors
Figure 1. Plan view of side concavity zone and spur dike arrangement
The flow patterns in the concavity zone are not so
changed in a vertical direction and show almost two
dimensional characteristics in the emerged cases of
h=0.035m. On the other hand, in the submerged cases of
h=0.06m, the flow through the spur dike becomes three
dimensional. However, this effect on the flow pattern in
the concavity zone is not so changed. Therefore we show
the planar velocity vectors in the plane of z=1.5cm
representatively in all cases.
Figure 2 shows the planar velocity vectors at z=1.5cm for
the cases of Ls=0cm. The vector length is normalized by
the main channel mean velocity U0. In the cases of no
spur dike, the flow comes into the concavity zone along
the downstream wall of the concavity and the counter-
clockwise recirculation eddy is generated. The center of
the eddy is located at x=0.65Bc and y=0.5Lc. The water in
the upstream region outside the eddy is rather stagnant.
This feature is almost similar in both the emerged and
submerged cases. In the case of submerged cases, the
velocity profile show wavy distribution that indicates the
existence of secondary currents in the main channel.
In the case of A200, the recirculation eddy becomes
stronger in magnitude and in space scale that occupies
whole concavity zone including the spur dike length in
lateral direction. In the case of A300, the recirculation
eddy does not develop in the whole concavity zone but
its center stays at the outside of the concavity zone. As
the length of spur dike becomes longer to 5cm in the case
of A500, reverse flow occurs along the interface region of
the concavity and the week clockwise recirculation eddy
is formed in the concavity zone. These results mean that
the scale of separation zone caused by the spur dike
affects the eddy structure in the concavity zone. In this
study, the reattachment length of the separation eddy is
considered to be an important parameter for the
interaction between separation wake flow and
recirculation flow in the concavity zone as shown in
Figure 1. The reattachment length of the spur dike tested
by other experiments conducted in a 0.2m wide open
channel with the same spur dike models. As a result, the
reattachment length Lr was approximately 10 times of the

2
spur dike length. The recirculation eddy is weakened if
the reattachment length of the separation eddy is larger
than the open length of the concavity (Cases A300 and
A500), whereas it is enhanced if the reattachment point
coincide with the open length of the concavity (Case
A200).
On the other hand, the recirculation eddy extremely
amplified in the cases of submerged cases with spur dike.
When the flow depth exceeds the spur dike height, the
reattachment length becomes smaller to be 3 to 4 times of
spur dike length due to the interaction of the transversely
separated flow over the spur dike with the horizontally
separated flow. Even in the case with L=5cm, the
reattachment length is within the open length of the
concavity. The lateral scale of the eddy reaches to the tip
of the spur dike and also the magnitude of eddy becomes
so large. With an increase of the spur dike length, the
outflow strength becomes larger and tends to push the
deviated flow from the spur dike tip.

3
Figure 2. Planar velocity vectors for the cases of Ls=0cm (left: emerged cases, right: submerged cases)
Figure 3 shows the planar velocity vectors at z=1.5cm for
the cases with Ls=10cm. In the case of A210, the eddy in
the concavity is still larger in the same order as the case
of A200 because the reattachment point is within the
interface of concavity. In the case of A310, the eddy is
amplified in contrast with the case of A300 because the
reattachment length coincides with the downstream wall
of the concavity in this case. In the case of A510, the eddy
is weak and inverse similarly to the case of A500. The
reattachment point still lies downstream of the concavity
zone. In the submerged cases, the recirculation eddy is
slightly enhanced by the accelerated main channel flow
and it is enlarged in the lateral scale. The outflow along
the upstream wall of the concavity reaches the tip line of
the spur dike and causes the reverse flow behind the spur
dike.
4
Figure 3. Planar velocity vectors for the cases of Ls=10cm (left: emerged cases, right: submerged cases)

Figure 4 shows the planar velocity vectors at z=1.5cm for

the cases of Ls=20cm. In these cases, the figures are
composed of two separately obtained images due to the
limitation of shooting range of the video camera. In the
case of A220, the recirculation eddy reduces to be similar
magnitude as the case with no spur dike. It is because the
reattachment of separation by spur dike occurs upstream
of the concavity zone. In the case of A320, the eddy is still
larger than that in the case with no spur dike but it
reduces from that in the case of A310. In the case of A520,
the reattachment point still lies downstream of the
concavity and the reverse flow is dominant in the
concavity zone. In the submerged cases, the pattern of
recirculation eddy in the concavity zone becomes almost
similar to that in the case with no spur dike. Although the
strong separation vortex is generated behind the spur
dike, it does not affect so much on the flow structures in
the concavity zone.
shows the lateral distributions of depth-averaged
primary velocity at the middle of concavity zone
(x=9.75cm). With an increase of the spur dike length, the
maximum velocity in the main channel increases and the
wake region is expanding. These effects are reduced as
the location of spur dike moves upstream. This feature is
more significant in the emerged cases and the difference
becomes smaller in the submerged cases. In the cases of
A300, A500, A510 and A520, the shear layer appears far
from the interfacial section of concavity and the
distribution in the concavity zone becomes opposite to
the

3.2 Typical Distribution of Depth-Averaged Velocity

To indicate the effects of spur dike on the main flow,

velocity distributions in all cases are compared. Figure 5

5
Figure 4. Planar velocity vectors for the cases of Ls=20cm (left: emerged cases, right: submerged cases)

Figure 5. Lateral distributions of the depth-averaged primary velocity at the middle of concavity zone (x=9.75cm)

Figure 6. Longitudinal distributions of depth-averaged lateral velocity along the interfacial line (y=10cm)
6
normal distribution. In submerged cases, lateral velocity
profile is almost similar with each other. The zero-cross
point in the concavity zone moves toward the main
channel in parallel with an increase of the spur dike
length and this indicates an increase of the reverse
velocity of the recirculation eddy.

Figure 6 shows the Longitudinal distributions of depth-

averaged lateral velocity along the interfacial section of
the concavity (y=10cm). The negative and positive values
mean an inflow to and an outflow from the concavity
zone, respectively. In general, the distribution of lateral
velocity is not symmetric and the inflow is concentrated
in a downstream narrow area. In the emerged cases that
the reattachment length exceeds the downstream end of
the concavity, the distribution deflects from the normal
distribution. In the submerged cases, the magnitude of
the lateral velocity changes in wide range with keeping
the similarity of the distribution.

3.3 Magnitude of Recirculation Eddy

Since the purpose of setting spur dike is to control the
flow in the concavity zone, quantitative effect of spur
dike is considered. Though the transverse size of
recirculation eddy becomes larger due to the spur dike,
the flow structure just inside the concavity zone is
analyzed. As a quantitative parameter, the mean flow
kinetic energy in the concavity is defined as follows,

Kc
1
Bc L ch 0
Bc L c h

0 0 U V / 2 dxdydz
2 2

[1]
Figure 7 shows this value in all cases. In the emerged
cases, the value of case A310 shows the maximum and
those of case A210, A200 and A320 follow after this. In
these cases, the reattachment length of spur dike meets
inside the range of concavity zone and the magnitude of
recirculation eddy is amplified by the intrusion of the
separation vortex into the concavity zone. In the cases of
A220, A300 and A500, the magnitude is lower than that
in the case without spur dike. In the cases of A300, A500,
A510 and A520, the reattachment length is beyond the
range of concavity zone and the active interaction does
not occur between the separation vortex and the flow in
the concavity zone. Though the magnitude of cases A510
and A520 indicate larger value than the no spur dike
case, the rotation direction of the eddy in the concavity is
opposite. In the submerged cases, the cases with Ls=0
show large magnitude that increases as the spur dike
length becomes longer. In these cases, the longer
upstream wall of the concavity induces strong outflow
and this intensifies the magnitude of circulation eddy. In
other cases, the magnitude does not so much changed
from the case without spur dike.
Next, exchange velocity is defined that average of the
absolute value of lateral velocity on the interface section
between the concavity and the main channel.

7
 1 Bc h
Bch 0 0
Ve V dxdz
[2]
Figure 7. Mean flow kinetic energy in concavity Kc
Figure 8. Water exchange velocity Ve
Figure 9. Relation between representative main channel velocity Umc and spur dike length L
Figure 8 shows the water exchange velocity in all cases.
The tendency is almost similar with the mean flow kinetic
energy. The substantial difference between K c and Ve is
recognized in the cases A510, B220 and B320. In the case
of A510, the straight reverse flow is observed with little
lateral velocity along the interface section. In the cases of
B220 and B320, the forward flow intrudes into the
concavity zone in the large part of interface region.
In general, the strength of recirculation eddy is
considered to be related with the main channel velocity.
When the spur dike is installed, the main channel velocity
is accelerated due to the contraction effect of the spur
dike. The representative main channel velocity related to
the recirculation eddy is calculated as follows,
1 y2 h
U mc
( y2 y1 ) h y1
0
Udzdy
x9.75 cm
[3]
where, y1 and y2 are the minimum and maximum limits
of the range where the distribution of primary velocity is
almost flat in the main channel at the middle point of the
concavity open length (x=9.75cm) as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 9 shows the relation between the representative
main channel velocity and the spur dike length. In the
case with Ls=0cm for both the emerged and submerged
conditions, Umc increases linearly with the spur dike
length. It is natural that the main channel velocities in the
submerged cases are smaller than those in the emerged
cases. The values in the emerged case with Ls=10cm show
similar variation. In other cases, Umc still indicates linear
8
Figure 10. Relation between water exchange velocity Ve and representative main channel velocity Umc

increase with the spur dike length but the value decreases
with an increase of the distance of the spur dike Ls.
Figure 10 shows the relation between the water exchange
velocity and the representative main channel velocity.
The distribution is classified into three parts. The first
exceptional group is the cases the reattachment point
departs downstream of the concavity zone (case A300,
A500, A510 and A520). The exchange velocity in this
group is rather small in comparison with the main
channel velocity. The second high efficiency group is the
cases with the distance of the spur dike Ls=0cm (case
B200, B300 and B500). The upstream wall of the concavity
elongated by the spur dike induces the intensive outflow
and introduces the strong recirculation eddy in
comparison with the main channel velocity. The third
group is the other cases. The exchange velocity increases
approximately linearly with the main channel velocity.
This means that the accelerated main channel velocity or
enlarged lateral velocity gradient is the most effective
factor to amplify the recirculation eddy in the concavity
zone.

3.4 Reynolds Stress Distribution

Turbulence characteristics are very complicated in these
cases. The instantaneous velocity indicates some periodic
fluctuation caused by the shear instability. In this study,
such organized vortex structures are not remarked, but
Reynolds stress distributions in typical cases are
examined. Figure 11 shows the contours of Reynolds
stress uv at z=1.5cm in typical cases. When spur dike
is installed, the turbulence fields are totally controlled by
the shear layer generated by the spur dike. The large
value of Reynolds stress appears along the high shear
layer behind the tip of the spur dike whereas it appears
along the interface line of the concavity in the case with
no spur dike (Nezu & Onitsuka 2002). Therefore, the
peak line of the Reynolds stress lies apart from the
interface of the concavity. The peak position of the
Reynolds stress appears some distance apart from the
spur dike tip in longitudinal and lateral directions. The
mean kinetic energy and the exchange velocity were very
Figure 11. Contours of Reynolds stress uv in typical cases
(z=1.5cm)
high in the case of A310 but they were very small in the
case of A300. On the other hand, they were larger in the
case of B300 than in the case of B310. As to the Reynolds
zone is different by the spur dike position, it is difficult to
stress, the value is larger in the emerged cases than the
explain the difference of recirculation eddy in the
submerged cases and the distribution profile is shifted
concavity from these turbulence distributions. The role of
upstream according to the movement of spur dike in the
turbulence on these phenomena will be discussed in the
case with Ls=10cm. Though the positional relation
future study.
between high Reynolds stress area and the concavity

9
4. CONCLUSIONS
In order to control the water exchange ability in a
riverside concavity, a spur dike placed upstream was
investigated. The effects of spur dike placed upstream in
a main channel on the flow structure in the riverside
concavity zone were investigated experimentally. The
length and the relative location of spur dike were
changed under two different discharge conditions. The
obtained main results are as follows:
1) The spur dike placed upstream of a concavity can
amplify the recirculation eddy in appropriate
conditions.
2) The reattachment length of separation vortex caused
by the spur dike is estimated to be a key parameter for
enhancing the recirculation eddy. In the present
experiments, the reattachment length is about 10 times
of spur dike length in the cases with emerged spur dike
and it is reduced to 3 - 4 times of spur dike length in the
cases with submerged spur dike.
3) When the reattachment length is within the range of
concavity, the recirculation eddy is accelerated. In these
cases, the accelerated main channel velocity contributes
to enhance the recirculation eddy.
4) When the reattachment length exceeds the range of
concavity, the recirculation eddy is not accelerated and
a reverse flow in the separation zone meets the interface
section of the concavity.
5) When the spur dike is placed just at the upstream wall
of the concavity (Ls=0) with the submerged spur dike
(case B), the recirculation eddy is extremely amplified.
6) Turbulence is controlled by the shear layer of spur dike
in the range of concavity zone.
7) In some cases, the performance of spur dike is
completely changed by the discharge difference. It
should be noticed that the the flow structures around
the concavity in low high water stage can be completely
different by relative flow depth to the spur dike height.
If the purpose of using spur dikes is to reduce the
sediment deposition in a concavity zone, it may not an
efficient measure to enhance the recirculation eddy. This
mechanism should be examined by conducting sediment
experiments in the future.
REFERENCES
Cai, F. & Tominaga, A. (2012). Turbulent flow around
box groyne with a longitudinal block, River Flow 2012,
Balkema - Proceedings and Monographs in Engineering,
Water and Earth Sciences, 1089-1096
Hinterberger, C. , Frhlich and Rodi, W. (2007). Three-
dimensional and depth-averaged large eddy
simulations of some shallow water flows. Journal of
Hydraulic Engineering, ASCE, 133(8): 857-872.
Kawahara, W., Nakagawa, K., kan, K. (1995).
Experimental study of flows in embayments, 26th
IAHR Congress, 391-396.
Kimura, I. and Hosoda, T. (1997). Fundamental
properties of flows in open channels with dead zone.
Journal of Hydrau-lic Engineering, ASCE, 123(2): 322-
347.
McCoy, A., Constantinescu, G. and Weber L. W. (2008).
Nu-merical investigation of flow hydrodynamics in a
channel with a series of groynes. Journal of Hydraulic
Engineering, ASCE, 134(2): 157-172.
Nezu, I., Onitsuka, K. and Takahashi, S. (2001). PIV
Meas-urements of side cavity Wando open-channel
flows. Proceedings of 6th Asian Symposium on
Visualization, Pusan, Korea, 165-167.
Nezu, I., and Onitsuka, K. (2002). PIV Measurements of
side cavity open channel flows; Wando models in
rivers. Journal of Visualization, Volume 5, Issue 1, 77-
84.
Nugroho E. O and Tominaga A. (2009). The Effect of
Entrance Configuration in the Exchange Process along
an Embayment, 33rd IAHR Congress, 2678-2685.
Rajaratnum, N. and Nwachukwu, B.A. (1983). The study
of flow near groin-Like structures, J. Hydraulic
Engineering, ASCE, vol.109, No.3: 463-480.
Tominaga, A. & Jong, J. (2010). Effects of conjunction
channel on water exchange in riverside embayment,
Journal of Hydro-environment Research, vol.4, 163-173.
Tominaga, A. & Urayama, Y. (2012). Restraining effects
of deposition in an artificial embayment by piling
along its entrance, Proceedings of 18 th IAHR-APD
Congress, 124-125.
Uijttewaal, W. S. J., Lehmann, D. and van Mazijk, A.
(2001). Exchange process between a river and its
groyne fields: Model experiments. Journal of Hydraulic
Engineering, ASCE, 1273(11): 928-936.
Weitbrecht, V., Socolofsky, S. A. and Jirka, G. H. (2007).
Ex-periments on mass exchange between groin fields
and main stream in rivers. Journal of Hydraulic
Engineering, ASCE, 134(2): 173-183.
Yossef, M. F. M. and Vriend, H. J. (2004). Mobile-bed
exper-iments on the exchange of sediment between
main channel and groin fields, River Flow 2004,
Balkema, vol. 1, pp.127-133.
10