Three-dimensional hydraulic modeling of Detroit River (Michigan, Ontario)

Three-dimensional hydraulic modeling of Detroit River was carried out using the Curvilinear Hydrodynamics in 3-D (CH3D) Model. A 2-D grid scheme was constructed by using SMS software along Detroit River from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie with the two banks as the transversal boundaries. The water depth (vertical &sgr;–) was divided into 10 layers from water surface to the river bottom. A modification to the program was made to enable flexible Manning roughness by applying the Strickler formula. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) USA bathymetry data, collected between April 17 and August 8 of 2000, were post-processed for water level corrections using MapInfo software. The data were also extended to areas where there were no NOAA measurements in the Detroit River basin. Relatively steady flow recordings in the period of August 3–4th, 1998 were selected for the simulation among four periods of data collection. Six water level gauge records in various locations were used to check the theoretical water level computations. Twenty-four cross sections of Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) velocity measurements were also post-processed to sort the measured points to the computational grid and used to compare the accuracy of CH3D model output in the same flow period. Comparison between computed velocities and velocity measurements at various transects shows a good agreement typically below 15% error, and comparison between the computational water surface elevation versus that of records in gauge stations is also a good agreement.