Momentum and mass transport and flow structure characteristics for the unsteady flow in compound channel

In recent decades, the study of steady flow in the compound channel has received much attention, while the flow characteristics of flood in the compound channel are rarely reported. In this paper, the characteristics of the flood propagation under different initial main channel depths are studied using the laboratory experiments and numerical simulation. Results show that the overflowing water from the main channel soon forms the reverse flow after hitting the floodplain sidewall. This reverse flow influences the subsequent overflowing process and significantly enhances the bed shear stress on the floodplain. However, this effect gradually decreases with the flood evolution distance and the increase of the initial downstream water depth. Unsteady transverse transport during flooding inhibits the formation of coherent eddies at the interface between the main channel and floodplain, while the high shear region will extend to the internal of the main channel or floodplain. Complex multi-vortex structures are found on the floodplain due to transverse interaction behavior. The main transverse mass transport takes place in the first half of the period after the flood arrival. It is found that the weir flow equations used in the previous studies are unable to accurately describe the transverse mass transfer between the main channel and floodplain. Secondary currents have a little contribution to the unsteady transverse momentum transport, while the transverse currents and transverse Reynolds stresses have a significant effect. The time when the peak transverse current arrives is later than that when the peak transverse Reynolds stresses does in the current study.