Initial Stage of the Generation of Dam-Break Waves

摘要

Self-similar solutions to the problem of dam break were analytically obtained in the first approximation of shallow-water theory. These solutions have certain analogues in one-dimensional gas dynamics. The case of a rectangular channel with a flat bed was first analyzed in [1]. Recently, analytical self-similar solutions were found using the same approach employed for the channel with an uneven bed [2-4], For applied problems, numerical calculations based on the Saint-Venant equations were successfully used with actual river geometry, slope of the bed, and hydraulic resistance [5, 6]. Currently, numerical calculations for waves of various shapes under shallow-water conditions are performed using rather complicated mathematics involving the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations. Waves generated in the course of dam break are quite suitable for testing the results of such computations [7].