Effect of the curved vane on the hydraulic response of the bridge pier

Hydrodynamic field alteration around a cylindrical pier using a curved vane is numerically investigated. The curved vane with various angles ranged from 10 to 220 degree is placed at the upstream of the cylindrical pier. Laminar flow is adopted in order to perform the steady-state analysis. It is found that the flow separation leads to the formation of four bubbles depending on the value of the curved vane angle. Two bubbles are located in the region between the rear of the curved vane and the leading surface of the cylindrical pier, while the remaining two bubbles are located at the wake zone behind the cylindrical pier. Numerical analysis is performed to reveal the hydrodynamic field and influence of curved vane on the formation and evolution of the bubbles. It is found that the center and size of the bubble depend mainly on the value of the curved vane angle. It is observed that the flow velocity vector shows clearly the alteration in the flow velocity direction especially at the leading surface and rear surface of the curved vane owing to the occurrence of flow separation and flow dissipation along the circumference of the vane.