Structure of Turbulent Vortices in a Compound Channel

In spite of many investigations performed on turbulent flows, their structure has not yet been sufficiently explored. The difficulty is that, when a detailed picture of the velocity field is necessary, the widely employed Particle Image Velocity (PIV) method can provide photos covering only a short interval of flow, which cannot include the largest structures of turbulent flow, and consequently these structures cannot be investigated. In this study, the author tried to obtain necessary data about the processes occurring in the flow by analyzing instantaneous velocity measurements carried out by 3D means. A measurement at the points of a flow cross-section takes at least 1 minute. During this time all vortex structures, including the largest, occur repeatedly many times and can be studied. The analysis of such measurements was the aim of this article. The process of the generation of vortices at the bottom and their further development, including the conditions of the development of the largest vortices, has been investigated. The results of these investigations are discussed in this article.