PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

This study aims at analysing the velocity profiles in a straight rectangular channel having a constant width and depth throughout the channel length. Experiment was conducted for five altered depths using the straight rectangular flume in hydraulic flow laboratory available at VSS University of Technology, Odisha, India. Furthermore, the distributions of stream wise velocity at the different flow depth were computed numerically using hydraulic software ANSYS FLUENT 18.1. The results of numerical simulation showed sensibly good agreement with experimental data, which was ±10% for both across and along the channel of rectangular flume. The Reynolds number in this study lay between10,853 to 79,000. In case of channel flow, the velocity varied both in longitudinal and transverse direction. The isovel lines joining points of equal velocity normally curved upward due to the effect of turbulence. Peak velocity was found below the free surface of water. The law of logarithmic and power law was applied to study velocity distribution in terms of turbulent flow condition. The model could be validated by considering the various parameters of flow measurement such as the resultant velocity and the velocity at both horizontal and vertical direction. The inclusive idea of this study was to comprehend flow characteristic over a plane bed through experimental and numerical simulation methods.