Flow Structures of the Air-Water Layer in the Free Surface Region of High-Speed Open Channel Flows

In hydraulic engineering, intense free surface breakups have been observed to develop in high-speed open channel flows, resulting in a mixed air-water layer near the free surface that grows with the development of self-aeration. This region is characterized by a substantial number of droplets coexisting with an induced air layer above. Little information about this droplet layer is currently available and no practicable approach has been proposed for predicting the parameters of the induced air layer based on the related flow structures in the droplet layer. In this research, laboratory experiments were accordingly conducted to observe the detailed droplet layer development in terms of layer thickness, droplet size, and frequency distributions under comparative flow conditions. Based on the simplified droplet layer roughness determined using the experimentally measured mean droplet size, the classical power-law of boundary layer theory was applied to provide an analytical solution for the air velocity profile inside the air layer. The relationship of air layer growth to droplet layer thickness, which is a key factor when determining the air velocity distribution, was also established, and the analytical results were proven to be in reasonable agreement with air velocity profiles presented in the literature. By determining the relationship between droplet layer properties and air velocity profiles, the study establishes a basis for the improved modeling of high-speed open channel flows.