Three-dimensional tidal current numerical model of the Oujiang Estuary

The characteristics of three-dimensional (3-D) tidal current in the Oujiang Estuary are investigated according to in situ observations. The Oujiang Estuary has features of irregular coastline, complex topography, many islands, moveable boundary, and submerged dyke, therefore, a 3-D numerical model on an unstructured triangular grid has been developed. The a coordinate transformation, the moveable boundary and submerged dyke treatment techniques were employed in the model so it is suitable for the tidal simulations in the Oujing Estuary with submerged dyke and moveable boundary problems. The model is evaluated with the in situ data, and the results show that the calculated water elevations at 19 stations and currents at 19 profiler stations are in good agreement with measured data both in magnitude and phase. This numerical model is applied to the 3-D tidal circulation simulations of experiments in stopping flow transport through the South Branch of the Oujiang Estuary, and the feasibility to cutoff the flow in the South Branch of the Oujiang Estuary is demonstrated by numerical simulation experiments. The developed numerical model simulated the 3-D tidal current circulations in complicated coastal and estuarine waters very well.