Numerical Study of Culvert–Weir Operating Modes Under Steady and Unsteady Hydrographs: Stage Response, Regime Transition and Ventilation State

Abstract

Culverts are widely used to provide crossings over small rivers and can strongly influence flood hydraulics by controlling upstream water levels. During high flows, insufficient conveyance may cause pressurization and overtopping, with important implications for flood hazard assessment. Although computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is increasingly applied to investigate these complex hydraulic processes, systematic evaluations of its performance remain limited. This study addresses this gap by validating a three-dimensional CFD model against previously published laboratory experiments for culvert-only, weir-only and combined culvert–weir configurations under both steady (rising and receding discharge sequences) and unsteady flow conditions. Beyond benchmark validation, diagnostic analyses examined inlet region mesh resolution, inflow ramp history and turbulence closure, together with the associated outlet ventilation and attachment mechanisms. The model reproduced upstream water levels with mean absolute relative error (MARE) values ranging from 0.90% to 5.42% and captured the main stage–discharge relationships across the tested configurations. However, the experimentally observed transition from partially full to pressurized flow in the combined culvert–weir configuration was not reproduced consistently. The diagnostic analyses showed that inlet resolution influences entrance losses and post-submergence headwater, inflow history alters outlet attachment and ventilation and turbulence closure affects barrel filling and air-pocket morphology. The results indicate that CFD can reproduce water level and overtopping responses well when carefully configured, while regime transition prediction remains more uncertain because of its sensitivity to ventilation and discharge history effects.