Assessment of a numerical model capability in simulating flow and sediment hydrodynamics

This study tries to assess the capabilities of a numerical model in monitoring and predicting the governing processes of the river channel flow and sediment transport. With regard to the significant role of the flow velocity and shear stress forces on river bank erosion، two-dimensional numerical modeling was performed using CCHE2D to simulate flow and sediment transport patterns of a meandering river reach located in the downstream of the Minab dam (Hormozgan province، Iran). Various algorithms and parameters were employed for simulation of two-dimensional (2D) flow and sediment transport to gain an insight into the modeling capabilities of CCHE2D. First، the geometry model and after that a numerical mesh system were calculated by taking advantage of topographic surveys. Second، the required parameters for running CCHE2D were collected through field works. Finally، the model outputs including flow depth and velocity، shear stress، Froude number، specific discharge and changes in suspended load and bed load sediment were obtained for the considered river reach. Furthermore، two statistical criteria (RMSE and MAPE) were used to evaluate the performance of the model. The values of RMSE for the flow depth، flow velocity and the energy slope were 0. 075، 0. 116 and 0. 0008، respectively. The results indicated that the simulated values are in good agreement with the field measurements.