Unsteady Free Surface Flow in Corrugated Drainage Pipes: Finite Volume Solution and Experimental Verification

A subsurface drainage network mainly carries unsteady flow and data are not usually available for model parameters calibration in such networks. In the present research, the finite volume method using the time splitting scheme was employed to develop a computer code for solving the one dimensional unsteady flow equations. Using corrugated sub drainage pipes, an experimental prototype setup was constructed to examine the numerical model response in predicting the observed unsteady data in such circumstances. The experimental setup components and the model parameters were calibrated in place based on steady state flow condition. The results revealed satisfactory performance by the abovementioned method and the scheme employed and justified its validity for field application.

Keywords:

Unsteady flow , Corrugated drainage pipe , Finite Volume Method , Time splitting scheme