Bed slope effect on the dam break problem

An analysis of a dam break on an inclined plane.

We consider the dam break problem upon an inclined plane. The flow of a series of Newtonian fluids is generated by the collapse of a dam in a completely transparent channel with variable slope. The stage at given abscissa and the front wave evolution are accurately investigated using ultrasonic and image analysis facilities, respectively. While the Navier Stokes and the continuity equations are properly rendered nondimensional in the viscous regime and solved with the 1D shallow water approximation. A successful comparison is shown between the experimental and the theoretical results.