River Engineering

February8, 2008
River Engineering
J ohnFenton
Institut fr Hydromechanik, Universitt Karlsruhe
Kaiserstrasse12, 76131Karlsruhe, Germany
Abstract
Thiscourseof 12lecturesstartswithanintroductiontothestudyof owsinopenchannels, partic-
ularlyfor thecaseof rivers. Thedistinguishingcharacteristicisthat thesurfaceisunconned. This
means that thelocationof thesurfaceis also part of theproblem, and allows for theexistenceof
waves generallymakingthingsmoreinteresting!
A number of specicriver problemsandapplicationsof hydraulicstoriversaredescribed, including
uniformowinprismaticchannels- usingthesamefrictionlawsasinpipelines, but alsodescribing
arather moreempirical traditional approach.
Thephysical lawsareusedtopredict howthewater surfacevariesalongariver or canal for steady
ow, whilefor unsteady ow, an examination is madeof thepropagation of oods and waves in
rivers.
Structures in open channels and their uses aredescribed, also techniques for themeasurement of
owinriversandcanals, arather fundamental problemfor manypractical projects.
Finally theerosion, deposition, andtransport of soil andboundary materials, andthemorphologic
behaviour of riversaredescribed.
Tableof Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1 Typesof channel owtobestudied . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2 Propertiesof river ow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2. Steadyandunsteadyowinchannels . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.1 Uniformowinprismaticchannels . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2 A theoretical approachtofrictioninchannels . . . . . . . . 20
2.3 Thelongwaveequationsfor straight waterways . . . . . . . . 22
2.4 Thepropagationof longwavesandoodsinrivers . . . . . . . 27
2.5 Thesteadyowproblem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3. Hydrography/Hydrometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.1 Water levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.2 Discharge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.3 Theanalysisanduseof stageanddischargemeasurements . . . . 48
4. Hydraulicstructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
1
River Engineering J ohnFenton
4.2 Overshot gate- thesharp-crestedweir . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.3 Triangular weir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.4 Broad-crestedweirs critical owasacontrol . . . . . . . . 52
4.5 Freeoverfall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.6 Sluicegateor undershot gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.7 Drownedsluicegate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
References
Ackers, P., White, W. R., Perkins, J . A. & Harrison, A. J . M. (1978) Weirs and Flumes for Flow
Measurement, Wiley.
AustralianStandard3778.3.1(2001) Measurement of water ow in open channels - Velocity-area meth-
ods - Measurement by current meters and oats, StandardsAustralia, Sydney.
Boiten, W. (2000) Hydrometry, Balkema.
Bos, M. G. (1978) Discharge Measurement Structures, Second Edn, International Institutefor Land
ReclamationandImprovement, Wageningen.
Fenton, J . D. (2002) Theapplicationof numerical methodsandmathematicstohydrography, in Proc.
11th Australasian Hydrographic Conference, Sydney, 3 July - 6 July 2002.
French, R. H. (1985) Open-Channel Hydraulics, McGraw-Hill, NewYork.
Henderson, F. M. (1966) Open Channel Flow, Macmillan, NewYork.
J aeger, C. (1956) Engineering Fluid Mechanics, Blackie, London.
Lenz, A. T. (1943) Viscosity and surfacetension effects on V-notch weir coefcients, Trans. ASCE
108, 759802.
Montes, S. (1998) Hydraulics of Open Channel Flow, ASCE, NewYork.
Novak, P., Moffat, A. I. B., Nalluri, C. &Narayanan, R. (2001) Hydraulic Structures, ThirdEdn, Spon,
London.
2
Sources
Thefollowing tableshows someof themany references available, which thelecturer may refer to in
these notes, or which students might nd useful for further reading. The lecturer has most of these
availablefor short-termloan.
Reference Comments
Bos, M. G. (1978), Discharge Measurement Structures, secondedn, International Insti-
tutefor LandReclamationandImprovement, Wageningen.
Good encyclopaedic treatment
of structures
Bos, M. G., Replogle, J . A. & Clemmens, A. J . (1984), Flow Measuring Flumes for
Open Channel Systems, Wiley.
Good encyclopaedic treatment
of structures
Chanson, H. (1999), The Hydraulics of Open Channel Flow, Arnold, London. Goodtechnical book, moderate
level, alsosediment aspects
Chaudhry, M. H. (1993), Open-channel ow, Prentice-Hall. Goodtechnical book
Chow, V. T. (1959), Open-channel Hydraulics, McGraw-Hill, NewYork. Classic, nowdated, notsoread-
able
Dooge, J . C. I. (1992) , TheManningformulaincontext, in B. C. Yen, ed., Channel
Flow Resistance: Centennial of Mannings Formula, Water Resources Publications,
Littleton, Colorado, pp. 136185.
Interesting history of Man-
ningslaw
Fenton, J . D. & Keller, R. J . (2001), Thecalculationof streamowfrommeasurements
of stage, Technical Report 01/6, Co-operativeResearchCentrefor Catchment Hydrol-
ogy, MonashUniversity.
Two level treatment - practical
aspects plus high level review
of theory
Francis, J . & Minton, P. (1984), Civil Engineering Hydraulics, fthedn, Arnold, Lon-
don.
Goodelementaryintroduction
French, R. H. (1985), Open-Channel Hydraulics, McGraw-Hill, NewYork. Widegeneral treatment
Henderson, F. M. (1966), Open Channel Flow, Macmillan, NewYork. Classic, highlevel, readable
Hicks, D. M. & Mason, P. D. (1991 ) , Roughness Characteristics of New Zealand
Rivers, DSIR MarineandFreshwater, Wellington.
Interesting presentation of
Mannings n for different
streams
J ain, S. C. (2001), Open-Channel Flow, Wiley. High level, but terseand read-
able
Montes, S. (1998), Hydraulics of Open Channel Flow, ASCE, NewYork. Encyclopaedic
Novak, P., Moffat, A. I. B., Nalluri, C. & Narayanan, R. (2001), Hydraulic Structures,
thirdedn, Spon, London.
Standard readable presentation
of structures
Townson, J . M. (1991), Free-surface Hydraulics, UnwinHyman, London. Simple, readable, mathematical
3
1. Introduction
Theowof water withanunconnedfreesurfaceat atmospheric pressurepresents someof themost
common problems of uid mechanics to civil and environmental engineers. Rivers, canals, drainage
canals, oods, andsewersprovideanumber of importantapplicationswhichhaveledtothetheoriesand
methods of openchannel hydraulics. Themaindistinguishingcharacteristic of suchstudies is that the
locationof thesurfaceis alsopart of theproblem. This allows theexistenceof waves, bothstationary
andtravelling. Inmostcases, wherethewaterwayismuchlonger thanitiswideor deep, itispossibleto
treat theproblemasanessentiallyone-dimensional one, andanumber of simpleandpowerful methods
havebeendeveloped.
Inthiscourseweattempt aslightlymoregeneral viewthaniscustomary, whereweallowfor real uid
effectsasmuchaspossiblebyallowingfor thevariationof velocityover thewaterwaycrosssection. We
recognisethat wecantreat thisapproximately, butit remainsanoften-unknownaspect of eachproblem.
Thisremindsusthat weareobtainingapproximatesolutionstoapproximateproblems, but it doesallow
somesimplicationstobemade.
Thebasicapproximationinopenchannel hydraulics, whichisusuallyaverygoodone, isthat variation
alongthechannel isgradual. Oneof themost important consequencesof thisisthat thepressureinthe
water isgivenbythehydrostaticapproximation, that it isproportional tothedepthof water above.
Terminology: Thisisariver engineeringcourse, wherethemaincharacteristicof ariver isthat it is
composedof water owingwithafreesurfaceandthat conditionsvaryalongthestream. Almost all of
thematerial isalsoapplicabletocanals, whicharewaterwayswhichareusuallyconstructed, andwitha
uniformsection. Wewill useinterchangeablythewordswaterway, stream, or channel asgeneric
termsthat candescribeanytypeof irregular river or regular canal or sewer withafreesurface.
1.1 Typesof channel owtobestudied
(b) Steady gradually-varied flow
(a) Steady uniform flow
n
d
n
d Normal depth
(d) Unsteady flow
(c) Steady rapidly-varied flow
Figure1-1. Different typesof owinanopenchannel
Case (a) Steady uniform ow: Steady owis wherethereis no changewithtime, /t 0.
Distant fromcontrol structures, gravity andfrictionareinbalance, andif thecross-sectionisconstant,
theowis uniform, /x 0. Wewill examineempirical laws that predict owfor givenbedslope
4
androughnessandchannel geometry.
Case (b) Steady gradually-varied ow: Gravityandfrictionareinbalanceheretoo, but whena
control isintroducedthat imposesawater level at acertainpoint, theheight of thesurfacevariesalong
thechannel for somedistance. For thiscasewewill developthedifferential equationthat describeshow
conditionsvaryalongthewaterway.
Case (c) Steady rapidly-varied ow: Figure1-1(c) shows threeseparategradually-variedow
states separatedby two rapidly-variedregions: (1) owunder asluicegateand(2) ahydraulic jump.
Thecompleteproblemas presentedinthegureis too difcult for us to study, as thebasic hydraulic
approximationthatvariationisgradual andthatthepressuredistributionishydrostaticbreaksdowninthe
rapidtransitionsbetweenthedifferent gradually-variedstates. Wecan, however, analysesuchproblems
by consideringeachof thealmost-uniformowstatesandconsider energy or momentumconservation
between themas appropriate. In thesesorts of problems wewill assumethat theslopeof thestream
balances thefrictionlosses andwetreat suchproblems as frictionless owover agenerally-horizontal
bed, sothat for theindividual statesbetweenrapidly-variedregionsweusually consider theowtobe
uniformand frictionless, so that thewholeproblemis modelled as asequenceof quasi-uniformow
states.
Case (d) Unsteady ow: Hereconditions vary with timeand position as awavetraverses the
waterway. Wewill obtainsomeresultsfor thisproblemtoo.
1.2 Propertiesof river ow
= z
y
z
min
z z =
Figure1-2. Cross-sectionof ow, showingisovels, contoursonwhichvelocitynormal tothesectionisconstant.
Consider asection of awaterway of arbitrary section, as shown in Figure1-2. Thex co-ordinateis
horizontal alongthedirectionof thewaterway(normal tothepage), y istransverse, andz isvertical. At
thesectionshownthefreesurfaceisz = , whichwehaveshowntobehorizontal across thesection,
whichisagoodapproximationinmanyows.
1.2.1 Discharge across a cross-section
Thevolumeuxor dischargeQ at anypoint is
Q =
Z
A
udA = UA
whereu isthevelocity component inthex or downstreamdirection, andA isthecross-sectional area.
This equationdenes themeanhorizontal velocity over thesectionU. Inmost hydraulic applications
5
thedischargeisamoreimportant quantity thanthevelocity, asit isthevolumeof water anditsrateof
propagation, thedischarge, whichareimportant.
1.2.2 A generalisation net discharge across a control surface
Having obtained the expression for volume ux across a plane surface where the velocity vector is
normal tothesurface, weintroduceageneralisationtoacontrol volumeof arbitraryshapeboundedbya
control surfaceCS. If u isthevelocityvector at anypoint throughout thecontrol volumeand n isaunit
vector withdirectionnormal toanddirectedoutwardsfromapoint onthecontrol surface, thenu n on
thecontrol surfaceisthecomponent of velocitynormal tothecontrol surface. If dS isanelemental area
of thecontrol surface, thentherateat whichuidvolumeisleavingacrossthecontrol surfaceover that
elemental areaisu ndS, andintegratinggives
Total rateat whichuidvolumeisleavingacrossthecontrol surface=
Z
CS
u ndS. (1.1)
If weconsider anitelengthof channel as showninFigure1-3, withthecontrol surfacemadeupof
1
u
1
n
2
n
2
u
Figure1-3. Sectionof waterwayandcontrol surfacewithvertical ends
thebed of thechannel, two vertical planes across thechannel at stations 1 and 2, and an imaginary
enclosingsurfacesomewhereabovethewater level, thenif thechannel bedisimpermeable, u n = 0
there; u = 0 on theupper surface; on the left (upstream) vertical plane u n = u
1
, whereu
1
is
thehorizontal component of velocity (whichvaries across thesection); andontheright (downstream)
vertical planeu n = +u
2
. Substitutingintoequation(1.1) wehave
Total rateat whichuidvolumeisleavingacrossthecontrol surface =
Z
A
1
u
1
dA+
Z
A
2
u
2
dA
= Q
1
+Q
2
.
If theowissteady andthereisnoincreaseof volumeinsidethecontrol surface, thenthetotal rateof
volumeleavingiszeroandwehaveQ
1
= Q
2
.
While that result is obvious, the results for more general situations are not so obvious, and we will
generalisethisapproachtorather morecomplicatedsituations notablywherethewater surfaceinthe
Control Surfaceis changing.
1.2.3 Pressure
Theapproximationwemake, commonthroughout almost all open-channel hydraulics, isthehydrosta-
ticapproximation, that pressureat apoint of elevationz isgivenby
p g height of water above= g ( z) , (1.2)
6
wherethefreesurfacedirectlyabovehaselevation. Thisistheexpressionobtainedinhydrostaticsfor
auidthat isnot moving. It isanexcellent approximationinopenchannel hydraulicsexcept wherethe
owisstronglycurved, suchaswherethereareshort wavesontheow, or near astructurethat disturbs
theow.
It isalmost alwaysthecasethat thesurfaceelevationof astreamishorizontal acrossthestream, and
isconstant acrossthestream.
1.2.4 A further generalisation transport of other quantities across the control surface
Wesawthatu ndS isthevolume uxthroughanelemental area if wemultiplybyuiddensity then
u ndS istherateat whichuidmass isleavingacrossanelemental areaof thecontrol surface, with
acorrespondingintegral over thewholesurface. Mass ux is actually morefundamental thanvolume
ux, for volumeisnot necessarily conservedinsituationssuchascompressibleowwherethedensity
varies. However inmost hydraulicengineeringapplicationswecanconsider volumetobeconserved.
Similarly we can compute the rate at which almost any physical quantity, vector or scalar, is being
transportedacross thecontrol surface. For example, multiplyingthemass rateof transfer by theuid
velocityu givestherateat whichuidmomentum isleavingacrossthecontrol surface, uu ndS.
1.2.5 Energy ux along a stream and mean total head at a section
InHydromechanicsweobtainedtheexpressionfor therateof energytransport acrossaplanar part of a
control surfacewherethemeanvelocitycrossedthesurfaceperpendicularly, suchasat either section1
or section2inFigure1-3above
E = gQ
j

p
j
g
+z
j
+

j
2g
Q
2
j
A
2
j
| {z }
Meantotal headof theow
, (1.3)
where j is either 1 or 2 here and the quantity in the brackets has units of length, corresponding to
elevation, andistermedtheMean total head of the ow H
j
, themeanenergy per unit massdividedby
g.
Usingtheusual approximation, that inriversthepressureishydrostatic, equation(1.2), thesumof the
rst twotermsisconstant, andmeantotal headof theowat asection, suppressingthej notation, is
H = +

2g
Q
2
A
2
= +
Q
2
2g
1
A
2
()
, (1.4)
andweseethat thetotal headis composedsimply of theelevationof thewater surfaceat thesection
plusthemeankineticheadat thesection. Ontheright sideof theequationwehaveemphasisedthat the
cross-sectional areafor agivensectionisaknownfunctionof surfaceelevation, suchthatwewriteA().
A typical graphshowingthedependenceof H upon is showninFigure1-4, whichhas beendrawn
for aparticular cross-sectionandaconstant valueof dischargeQ, suchthat thecoefcient Q
2
/2g in
equation(1.4) isconstant; z
min
istheelevationof thelowest point of thecross-section. Thenotation1
and2hereisfor twopossibledifferent depthswiththesameenergy(head).
Thegurehasanumber of important features, duetothecombinationof thelinear increasingfunction
andthefunction1/A
2
() that decreaseswith.
In theshallowowlimit for closeto thebed elevation z
min
, thedepth of ow, and hencethe
cross-sectional areaA(), bothgo to zero whileholdingdischargeconstant, so that thevalueof
H Q
2
/2gA
2
() becomesverylarge.
Intheother limit of deepwater, as becomeslarge, H , asthevelocitycontributionbecomes
negligible.
7
z
min
1
H
c
Surface
elevation
Head H = E/gQ
H = +
Q
2
2g
1
A
2
()
H =
1
2
Figure1-4. Variationof headwithsurfaceelevationfor aparticular cross-sectionanddischarge
Inbetweenthesetwolimitsthereisaminimumvalueof head, at whichtheowiscalledcritical
ow, wherethesurfaceelevationis
c
andtheheadH
c
.
For all other H greater thanH
c
therearetwo valuesof depthpossible, i.e. therearetwodifferent
owstatespossiblefor thesamehead, whichwewill call Alternative Depths.
Thestatewiththelarger depthiscalledtranquil, slow, or sub-critical ow, wherethepotential to
makewavesisrelativelysmall.
Theotherstate, withsmaller depth, of coursehasfaster owvelocity, andiscalledshooting, fast, or
super-critical ow. Thereismorewave-makingpotential here, but it isstill theoretically possible
for theowtobeuniform.
In thevicinity of thecritical point, whereit is easier for owto pass fromonestateto another,
theowcanvery easily formwaves. Infact, thisistheusual situationthat canbeseeninstreams
everywhere that are close to critical; there are a large number of waves on the ow and our
hydrostaticapproximationactuallybreaksdown.
Flows canpass fromonestateto theother inastream. Consider theowpast asluicegateina
channel asshowninFigure1-1(c). Therelatively deepslowowpassesunder thegate, suffering
alargereductioninmomentumdueto theforceexertedby thegateandemergingas ashallower
faster ow, but withthesameenergy. Theseare, for example, theconditionsat thepointslabelled
1and2respectivelyinFigure1-4. If wehaveaowwithheadcorrespondingtothat at thepoint 1
withsurfaceelevation
1
thenthealternativedepthis
2
asshown. Itseemsthatitisnotpossibleto
gointheother direction, fromsuper-critical owtosub-critical owwithout somelossof energy,
but nevertheless sometimes it is necessary to calculatethecorrespondingsub-critical depth. The
mathematical processof solvingeither problem, equivalent toreadingoff thedepthsonthegraph,
isoneof solvingtheequation
Q
2
2gA
2
(
1
)
+
1
| {z }
H1
=
Q
2
2gA
2
(
2
)
+
2
| {z }
H2
(1.5)
for
2
if
1
is given, or vice versa. Even for a rectangular section this equation is a nonlinear
transcendental equationthat hastobesolvednumericallybyproceduressuchasNewtonsmethod.
8
1.2.6 Section properties
z
z
( ) A b z z =
z
( ) b z
B
min
z
z
y
P
Figure1-5. Cross-sectionof channel showingdimensionsusedtocalculatesectionproperties
Hereanumber of quantitiesareintroducedthat will beusedthroughout thiscourse. Consider thecross-
sectionof achannel showninFigure1-5.
Wewill useacartesian (x, y, z) co-ordinatesystem, wherex is in ahorizontal planealong the
stream, increasingdownstream, y istransverse, andz isvertical.
Thewater surfaceisat anelevation abovetheorigin.
At anelevationz abovetheoriginis shownanelement of areaA, of widthb(z) andheight z,
suchthat A = b(z) z, andthetotal areaof thesectionis
A =
Z

zmin
b(z)dz
Thewidthof thewater surfaceb() isdenotedbyB, aquantitythatwill occur ofteninthesenotes.
Therateof changeof areawithrespect tosurfaceelevationisthen
dA
d
= B. (1.6)
Belowwewill havecausetoevaluatetheintegral
R
( z) dA. Fromthegureit canbeseenthat
thisistherst moment of areaof thesectionabout atransverseaxisthroughthewater surface, that
wewill denotebyM:
M =
Z
A
( z) dA =
Z

zmin
( z) b(z)dz.
A quantity that will beimportant when wecometo friction in channels is thewetted perimeter
P, shownby thecurveddashedline, theunderwater lengthof thebottomof thechannel. A pure
mathematicianmight saythat it isafractal, andthat onsmaller scales(e.g. aroundevery particle)
it isactuallylonger thanonlarger scales. Wearenot botheredabout this, andonoccasionfor wide
andshallowchannelswill useP B.
Inall theworkbelowthetransversepropertiesof thesection(variationwithy) areunimportant. It
is theoverall properties developedhereandtheir variationwithpositionalongthechannel x and
withsurfaceelevation that areuseful.
9
1.2.7 Momentum ux across a section of channel
InHydromechanicsweintroducedtheconcept of momentum ux at asectionof ow, that herewewill
denotebyS:
S =
Z
A
p +u
2
dA,
whereherewehavedoneaway withvector considerations. As elsewhere, weusethehydrostatic ap-
proximationfor thepressure: p = g( z), whichgives
S =
Z
A
g( z) +u
2
dA.
Nowweevaluatethisintermsof thequantitiesat thesection.
Pressure and elevation contribution
R
A
g( z) dA :
Theintegral
R
A
( z)dA is simply therst moment of areaabout atransversehorizontal axis at the
surface, asshownabove, andwecanwriteit as
R
A
( z)dA = M = A
h, (1.7)
where
h isthedepth of thecentroidof thesectionbelow the surface. Notethat thetransverseposition

of thecentroiddoesnot enter.
Velocity contribution
R
A
u
2
dA : FollowingtheprocedureintroducedinHydromechanics, we
simplywritethisas
Z
A
u
2
dA = U
2
A =
Q
2
A
. (1.8)
Combining: Wecansubstitutetogivetheexpressionfor theMomentumFlux:
S =
gA
h +U
2
A
gA
h +
Q
2
A
. (1.9)
Example 1: Calculate (a) Head (using the channel bottomas datum) and (b) Momentumux, for a
rectangular sectionof breadthb anddepthh.
WehaveA = bh, h = h/2. Substitutingintoequations(1.4) and(1.9) weobtain
H = h +
Q
2
2gb
2

1
h
2
and,
S =
gb
2
h
2
+
Q
2
b

1
h
.
1.2.8 Sub-critical and super-critical ow multiple values of energy and momentum
Notethat inExample1eachexpressioncontainstwoparts therst increasingwithh andthesecond
decreasingwithh.Infact, thegeneral results for H andM, equations (1.4) and(1.9) alsocontaintwo
terms with one that increases with water surface elevation and one that decreases. This means that
for a given head (energy ux) of the ow there are two surface elevations possible, and for a given
momentumux therearealso two possible. This is perhaps themost important result, therealisation
that thisispossibleandthat owcanpassfromonestatetoanother.
TwoexamplesareshowninFigure1-6. Flowpassesunderneathasluice gate asshown. Thereisalarge
10
P
2 3 1
Sluice gate Hydraulic jump
Figure1-6. Flowshowingdifferent depthspossiblefor samedischarge
forceP exertedby thegateontheow, withtheresult that theowistransformedfromasub-critical
owat 1to afast andshallowsuper-critical owat 2. Inthat short distance, withno other obstacles,
thereisverylittleenergyloss, andasagoodapproximationwewouldsaythatH
1
= H
2
givingequation
(1.5) tosolvefor
2
if
1
isknown. Inthisway wecouldobtaintheforceP onthegateby evaluating
P = S
1
S
2
intermsof theowandchannel quantities.
Ofteninasituationlikethis, thedownstreamowisactuallysub-critical, slowanddeep. Inthissituation
theowpassesfromonetotheother byforminganhydraulic jump, awildlyturbulent regionwherethe
owpassesfromonestatetotheother. Asthereisnoexternal forceontheowintheregionbetween
2and3, herethereis no loss of momentum, andwecouldevaluatethedownstreamdepthby solving
theequationS
2
= S
3
withS denedas afunctionof elevationby equation(1.9). Inthis case, as we
might expect, theviolent turbulenceinthejumpleadstoalossof energy, whichwecouldcalculateby
evaluatingH = H
2
H
3
.
1.2.9 Critical ows
Themultiplevalues of depthmeanthat for agivencross-sectionanddischargeQ thereis adepthfor
which the head H is a minimumand a depth for which the momentumS is a minimum. Here we
calculatetheconditionsfor whichtheseoccur.
Consider theexpressionfor head, equation(1.4)
H = +
Q
2
2g
1
A
2
()
.
Differentiatingwithrespect tosurfaceelevation:
dH
d
= 1 +
Q
2
2g

2
A
3
()
dA
d
,
usingtheChainRulefor thederivativeof A. Fromequation(1.6) however, dA/d = B, thesurface
width, and so to nd theminimum, theboundary point between sub- and super-critical ow, weuse
dH/d = 0, andweobtain
Q
2
B
gA
3
= 1 for minimumenergy. (1.10)
Thisdenescritical ow accordingtoenergy.
Nowto calculatetheconditionfor minimummomentumux, separatingthetwo possibleowstates,
wetakeequation(1.9) for momentumux:
S =
gA
h +
Q
2
A
. (1.11)
11
Nowwewill differentiatewithrespect tosurfaceelevation. Infact, thecalculationof thederivativeof
rst moment dM/d = d
/d givesasimpleresult.
B
h
Depth to centroid of white area: h +
Depth to centroid of hatched area: / 2

Figure1-7. Geometrical interpretationof calculationof positionof centroid
Figure1-7canbeusedto showthat, for anelemental increaseinsurfaceelevation = h, Therst
moment of areaabout anaxistransversetothechannel at thenewsurfaceis:
M +M = A() (
h +) +B

2
,
wheretherst termontheright isthat duetothewhiteareainthegureandthesecondtothehatched
area. It canbeseenthat thelatter isproportional to(h)
2
, andsointhelimit h 0,
dM
d
= lim
0
A() (
h +) +B /2 A()
h()
= A() = A, (1.12)
which is surprisingly simple. Substituting both this and dA/d = B in equation (1.11), weget the
conditionfor minimumM:
Q
2
B
gA
3
= 1 for minimummomentum, (1.13)
which is a similar condition for the minimumenergy, equation (1.10) but as in general 6= , the
conditionfor minimummomentumisnot thesameasthat for minimumenergy.
This has causeddistress to onewriter
1
, but as almost everybody elseassumes = = 1, it has not
botheredthem, andtheconditionQ
2
B/gA
3
= 1 hasbeenusedtodenecritical ow.
Herewehavetofacethisapparent contradiction, andthelecturer proposesthesuggestionthat thereis
no suchthingas aowthat is critical, althoughwecouldcontinueto usethetermcritical owas an
approximateconceptor beingcareful todenewhether wemeanaccordingtoenergyor momentum. On
theenergy-elevationdiagramof Figure1-4it wassuggestedthat inthevicinityof theenergyminimum,
thattheowishighlyunstableandhasatendencytoformrelativelyshortwavesintheow. Thiswould
also happen wereweto drawagraph of momentumversus elevation, that in thesamevicinity, short
waves wouldoccur. Werethis to happen, thentwo of thefundamental assumptions of thetheory, that
pressureishydrostaticandtheowuniform, wouldbeviolatedandwecannolonger usethetheory to
describeowinthevicinityof critical. Thisissuggestedbythesort of owinFigure1-8, whichcanbe
seeninsteeper riversanywhere.
Oneinternet sitedenescritical owas"therateof owof auidequivalent tothespeedof wavesin
that uid". Wewill seethat inthecaseof longwavesinrivers, thisisnot thecase, contrary topopular
opinion.
1
J aeger, C. (1956) Engineering Fluid Mechanics, Blackie, London.
12
Figure1-8. Flownear critical, fromBarnes, H. H. (1967) Roughnesscharacteristicsof natural channels, Water
SupplyPaper 1849, U.S. Geological Survey.
1.2.10 The Froude number
If wehaddoneadimensional analysisof theuniformowof dischargeQ throughanarbitrarychannel
sectionof areaA andtopwidthB, inthepresenceof gravityg, wewouldobtainsomethinglike
1
=
Q
2
gA
5/2
, and
2
=
A
B
2
.
This is not particularly informative. If weexaminethecaseof a widerectangular river whereA =
Bh,whereh isthedepth, thenweobtain
1
=
Q
2
gB
5/2
h
5/2
, and
2
=
h
B
.
Wenote, however, that weexpect ariver twiceas widecarryingtwicetheowshouldshowthesame
characteristicsastherst, andsowewrite
1
=
(Q/B)
2
gB
1/2
h
5/2
, and
2
=
h
B
,
and to removeall other dependenceof our primary dimensionless variableon B wesuggest that the
quantity
2
=
(Q/B)
2
gh
3
describes thenatureof owintheriver rather better, basedonour common-senseexperiencethat this
shouldbeindependent of breadth. Withthis insight, wego back to theriver of arbitrary section, and
formthisquantitymoregenerally:
2
=
Q
2
gA
5/2
B
A
1/2
=
Q
2
B
gA
3
,
andit isthisquantitythat iswidelyusedtocharacterisethenatureof openchannel ow. It isinfact the
squareof theFroudenumber F, sothat wedeneF basedonthis:
F
2
=
Q
2
B
gA
3
. (1.14)
13
Expressingthisintermsof velocityU = Q/A weobtain
F
2
=
U
2
B
gA
=
U
2
B
gA
=
U
2
gD
,
whereD isthemeandepthD = A/B.
ThedimensionlessFroudenumber occursthroughout openchannel hydraulics. It isrelevant wherethe
water hasafreesurfaceandisusuallymuchmoreimportant thantheReynoldsnumber for river ows,
becausetheeffects of viscosity arevery small. It almost always appears in theformof F
2
or F
2
rather thanF, andthosequantitiesactuallyexpresstherelativeimportanceof dynamiceffects(velocity
of ow) tothoseof staticor deptheffects, asexempliedherebythedenitionsof headandmomentum
ux, equations(1.4) and(1.9).
Flows that are fast and shallow have large Froude numbers, and those that are slow and deep have
small Froudenumbers. For example, consider ariver or canal that is1.25 m deepowingat 0.5 ms
1
(makesomeeffort to imagineit - wecanwell believethat it wouldbeableto owwithlittlesurface
disturbance!). Wehave
F
2
=
U
2
gD

0.25
10 1.25
0.02 (and F 0.14),
whichissmall, andwecanimaginethat thewave-makingcapability of thisowmight beof theorder
of this2%. Nowconsider owinastreet gutter after rain. Thevelocitymight alsobe0.5 ms
1
, while
thedepthmight beaslittleas1.25 cm. TheFroudenumber isgivenby
F
2
=
0.25
10 0.0125
2 (and F 1.4),
whichis100timesaslargeandwecaneasilyimaginetheowtohavemanywavesanddisturbanceson
it duetoirregularitiesinthegutter.
Nowif wereturn to theconcept of critical ow, and using thedenition of Froudenumber given by
equation(1.14), it isclear that thetwodenitionsof what critical owisaresimply
F
2
= 1 for minimumenergy, and F
2
= 1 for minimummomentum.
Thismeansthat for thegivenow, for larger depths, F smaller, theowissaidtobesub-critical, while
for smaller depths, F larger, theowissaidtobesuper-critical.
Infact, wesuspectthatasitalwaysseemstoappearintheformF
2
orF
2
wecoulddeneanimproved
Froudenumber, F
improved
= F
2
traditional
.
Wewill retain and asparametersintheselecturenotes, andwerecommendit alsoinprofessional
practice. Retainingit will, ingeneral, givemoreaccurateresults, but also, retainingit whileusuallynot
beingquitesureof its actual valuereminds us that weshouldnot takenumerical results as accurately
or as seriously as wemight. Notethat, in thespirit of this, wemight well use g 10 in practical
calculations!
Theusual statement intextbooks is that critical owoccurs whentheFroudenumber is 1. Wehave
chosentogeneralisethisslightly.
14
2. Steadyandunsteadyowinchannels
2.1 Uniformowinprismaticchannels
Uniformowis wherethedepth does not changealong thewaterway. For this to occur thechannel
propertiesalsomustnotchangealongthestream, suchthatthechannel isprismatic, andthisoccursonly
inconstructedcanals. However inrivers if weneedto calculateaowor depth, it is commonto use
across-sectionwhichisrepresentativeof thereachbeingconsidered, andtoassumeit constant for the
applicationof thistheory.
2.1.1 Chzys formula
Therearetwoforcesinbalanceinsteadyow:
Thecomponent of gravitydownstreamalongthechannel, and
theshear stressat thesideswhichoffersresistancetotheow, whichincreaseswithowveloc-
ity.
If achannel is longandprismatic (slopeandsectiondo not change) thenfar fromtheeffects of
controlsthetwocanbeinbalance, andif theowissteady, themeanowvelocityandowdepth
remainconstant alongthechannel, givinguniform ow, at normal depth.
A
L
P
0
sin g
g
Figure2-1. Sliceof uniformchannel owshowingshear forcesandbodyforcesper unit massacting
Consider asliceof uniformowinachannel of lengthL andcross-sectional areaA, asshowninFigure
2-1. Thecomponent of gravity forcealong thechannel is AL g sin, where is theangleof
inclinationof thechannel, assumedpositivedownwards. Theshear forceis
0
LP, where
0
isthe
shear stress, andP isthewettedperimeter of thecross-section. As thetwoareinbalancefor uniform
ow, weobtain
= g
A
P
sin.
Now,
0
/ hasunitsof velocitysquared; wecombineg andthecoefcient relatingthemeanvelocityU
15
at asectiontothat velocity, givingChzys
2
formula(1768):
U = C
p
RS
0
, (2.1)
whereC is theChzy coefcient (with units L
1/2
T
1
), S
0
= tan is theslopeof thebed, positive
downwards, wherewehaveusedthetraditional approximation, validfor small slopes, suchthat sin
tan = S
0
,
and R = A/P is thehydraulic radius, theapproximatemeasureof the"conductance" of thecross-
section, increasingwitharea, but decreasingwithwettedperimeter.
Multiplyingbythearea, Chzysformula(2.1) givesanexpressionfor thedischarge:
Q = UA = C
A
3/2
P
1/2
p
S
0
, (2.2)
inwhichbothA andP arefunctionsof theowdepth.
ChzysC hasbeenfavouredinLa Francophonie, theassemblyof French-speakingcountries.
2.1.2 Gauckler-Manning-Strickler formula
Thereis experimental evidencethat C depends onthehydraulic radius intheformC R
1/6
, giving
theempirical expressionwidelyused, theGauckler-Manning-Strickler (G-M-S) formula:
U =
1
n
R
2/3
S
1/2
0
, (2.3)
wheren istheManningcoefcient (unitsof L
1/3
T), whichincreaseswithincreasingroughness. Typ-
ical valuesare: concrete- 0.013, irrigationchannels- 0.025, cleannatural streams- 0.03, streamswith
largeboulders- 0.05, streamswithmanytrees- 0.07. Usuallytheunitsarenot shown.
Theexpressionfor dischargebecomes:
Q =
1
n
A
5/3
P
2/3
p
S
0
= k
St
A
5/3
P
2/3
p
S
0
, (2.4)
where, asusedinGerman-speakingcountries, k
St
= 1/n, knownas"Stricklersk".
TheG-M-S formulaiswidely used andabused. It isnot dimensionally homogeneous(notetheunits
of n), it isempirical at best, andhasnotheoretical justication.
For wideroughchannelsthevalueof theresistancecoefcient n ismoreconstant over arangeof ows
thanis ChzysC, sothat theG-M-S formulahasoftenbeenfavoured, especially inEnglish-speaking
culture. However themanner inwhichavalueof n isadoptedinpracticeismost unsatisfactory. Typical
approachesinclude:
Byusingthetelephone(YoudidsomeworkonRiver X yearsago. What doyouthinkn|k
St
ison
River Y (10kmfromX) for thereachbetweenA andB?).
Tables of valuesinbooksonopenchannels, givenchannel conditions. Thesevalues donot seem
tohavebeenexhaustivelytested. Therearefewscienticstudiesof valuesof n.
By lookingupabook withpictures of rivers Barnes (1967)
3
for US rivers or Hicks andMason
(1991)
4
for NewZealandRivers. Above, Figure1-8was suchanexample. , Figure2-2belowis
theColumbiaRiver at VernitainWashington. It has thelowest n = 0.024 of all theexamples in
Barnes. It is500mwideandhasbouldersof diameter ... well it doesnt say. Pity, becauseit isthe
roughnesssizetoriver depthwhichdeterminestheresistancecharacteristics. Presentingapicture
2
AntoineChzy(1718-1798), Frenchengineer andacademic, belatedlyDirector of theEcoledesPontsandChausses.
3
H. H. Barnes(1967) Roughness characteristics of natural channels, U.S. Geological SurveyWater-SupplyPaper 1849.
4
Hicks, D. M. & Mason, P. D. (1991) Roughness Characteristics of New Zealand Rivers, DSIR Marine
andFreshwater, Wellington.
16
isnot muchhelp onehaslittleideaof theunderwater conditionsandhowvariabletheyare.
Figure2-2. Exampleof agurefromBarnes(1967)
It isnotablehowrarelyphysical measurementsareused.
TheASCE TaskForceonFrictionFactorsinOpenChannelswrotein1963
5
, warningagainst theuseof
theG-M-Sformula:
Many engineers have become accustomed to using Mannings n for evaluating frictional effects
in open channels. At the present stage of knowledge, if applied with judgement, both n and
are probably equally effective in the solution of practical problems. The design engineer who
prefers to use n in her/his computations should continue to do so, but he/she should recognize
the limitations on her/his method ... It is believed that experimental measurements of friction in
open channels over a wide range of conditions are better correlated and understood by the use
of . Furthermore, is commonly used by engineers in many other branches of engineering
and probably provides the only basis for pooling all experience on frictional resistance in both
open and closed conduits. It is recommended, therefore, that engineering teachers and research
workers emphasize the use of the friction factor ...
Thishasbeenalmost completelyignored. What theASCE wasadvocatingwastheuseof theWeisbach
approach, whichweshall nowconsider.
2.1.3 Weisbach formulation
Weshall seebelowthatitispossibletodevelopamorerational theoryof frictionbasedontheWeisbach
frictionformulation andthat, infact, ChzysC =
p
8g/
, where
isthemeanvalueof theWeisbach
coefcient for the channel. For the moment we just accept this result. We already have extensive
experimental resultsfor for pipes(whereit isconstant aroundtheperimeter), andknowhowit varies
withrelativeroughnessandReynoldsnumber.
Ingeneral, then, thefrictionfactor isaquitewell-knownfunctionof depthandow. It, unlikeMan-
nings n or Stricklers k
St
, is not expected to beconstant. Its variability is an expression that weare
modellingtheactual physics. Wedonot expect amagicconstancyfor suchacomplicatedproblem.
This suggests that it wouldbemorerational to usetheWeisbachformulation(whichis really just the
5
ASCE Task ForceonFrictionFactors inOpenChannels (1963) Frictionfactors inopenchannels, J. Hydraulics
Div, ASCE 89, 97143.
17
Chzyformulationbut withadimensionlesscoefcient:
Q =
r
8g
A
3/2
P
1/2
p
S
0
, (2.5)
andtoacceptthat
, likeAandP, isafunctionof depthandaslowly-varyingfunctionof ow(Reynolds

number).
Inthecaseof achannel withparticlesof sandor gravel, wecanusepreviousresearchwhichhasobtained
expressionsfor
. Thebest solutionistousetheexplicit approximationproducedbyHaaland:

=
1
1.8
2
log
2
10
k/D
3.7
10/9
+ 6.9

UD
!
, (2.6)
wherek istheroughnesssizeandD istheequivalent pipediameter for achannel. Theproblemnowis
toobtaintheequivalent pipediameter. Weisbachsequationfor apipeis
H =
L
D
U
2
2g
andwritingH/L = S
0
, astheowisuniformandtheheadlossgradient equalsthebedslope, gives
U
2
=
2g
DS
0
andcomparingwithequation(2.5) fromwhichweobtain
U
2
=
8g
A
P
S
0
wendD = 4A/P,whichis exact for afully circular channel, apipe, as A = D
2
/4 andP = D.
Hence, substitutingintoHaalandsexpression(2.6) weobtain, writing
intheforminwhichit appears
inthat equation, andtakingthenegativesquareroot becausethelogarithmreturns anegativevalueas
theargument islessthan1:
1
= 1.8 log
10
0.05
kP
A
10/9
+ 1.7
P
Q
!
. (2.7)
wherewehaveroundedgurestotwosignicant gures. Substitutingintoequation(2.5), andusingthe
natural logarithminstead,
Q = 5.1
g log
10
0.05
kP
A
10/9
+ 1.7
P
Q
!
A
3/2
P
1/2
p
S
0
, (2.8)
ThisWeisbach-Haalandexpressionisnowatranscendental equationfor Q, asit appearsonbothsides.
2.1.4 General formulation
Thethreelawscanbegeneralisedbywriting
Q = K
p
S
0
, whereK istheconveyance(unitsof discharge, L
3
T
1
), (2.9a)
K = C
A
3/2
P
1/2
, or 5.1
g log
10
0.05
kP
A
10/9
+ 1.7
P
Q
!
A
3/2
P
1/2
, or
1
n
A
5/3
P
2/3
, (2.9b)
whichinthecaseof G-M-S is afunctionof depthandinthecaseof Weisbach, alsoaweakly-varying
functionof owQ.
2.1.5 Calculation of normal depth
If thedepth, slope, andtheappropriateroughness coefcient areknown, equation(2.9a) is anexplicit
18
equationforthedischarge, orintheWeisbach-Haalandformulationwith(2.8), atranscendental equation.
A morecommon problemis that wherethedischarge(fromow records or forecasts) and slopeare
known, and if theappropriateroughness coefcient or aformulafor it is known, then even equation
(2.9a) atranscendental equationfor thedepth, whichis containedinK inacomplicatedmanner. We
cangainsomeinsightanddevelopasimpleiterationsolutionschemebyconsideringatrapezoidal cross-
section, wherethebottomwidthisW, thedepthish, andthesideslopesare(H:V) : 1. Thefollowing
propertiesareeasilyshowntohold:
Topwidth B W + 2h
Area A h(W +h)
Wettedperimeter P W + 2
p
1 +
2
h
G-M-S formula Inthecaseof widechannels, (i.e. channelsrather wider thantheyaredeep, h W,
which is a common case) the wetted perimeter does not vary much with depth h. Similarly in the
expressionfor thearea, thesecondfactor W + h (themeanwidth) doesnot vary muchwithh either
most of thevariationis intherst part h. Hence, if weassumethat theseproperties holdfor cross-
sectionsof amoregeneral nature, wecanrewritetheG-M-Sformula, for example:
Q =
1
n
A
5/3
(h)
P
2/3
(h)
p
S
0
=
S
0
n
(A(h)/h)
5/3
P
2/3
(h)
h
5/3
,
whereA(h)/h variesslowly withh andsodoesP(h); most of thevariationwithh iscontainedinthe
last termh
5/3
, andby solvingfor that termwecanre-writetheequationinaformsuitablefor direct
iteration
h =

Qn
S
0
3/5
P
2/5
(h)
A(h)/h
,
wherethersttermontherightisaconstantfor anyparticular problem, andthesecondtermisexpected
tobearelativelyslowly-varyingfunctionof depth, sothatthewholerightsidevariesslowlywithdepth
aprimaryrequirement that thedirect iterationschemebeconvergent andindeedbequicklyconvergent.
Experiencewithtypical trapezoidal sectionsshowsthatthisworkswell andisquicklyconvergent. How-
ever, it alsoworkswell for owincircular sectionssuchassewers, whereover awiderangeof depths
themeanwidthdoesnot vary muchwithdeptheither. For small owsanddepthsinsewersthisisnot
so, andamorecomplicatedmethodmight havetobeused, suchasNewtonsmethodor Excel Solver.
Example 2: Calculatethenormal depthinatrapezoidal channel of slope0.001, Mannings coefcient
n = 0.04, bottomwidth 10 m, with side slopes 2 : 1, carrying a ow of 20 m
3
s
1
. We have A =
h(10 + 2 h), P = 10 + 4.472 h, givingthescheme
h =

Qn
S
0
3/5
(10 + 4.472 h)
2/5
10 + 2 h
= 6.948
(10 + 4.472 h)
2/5
10 + 2 h
and starting with h = 2 we have the sequence of approximations: 2.000, 1.609, 1.639, 1.637 - quite
satisfactoryinitssimplicityandspeed.
Weisbach-Haaland formulation Fromequation(2.5), againwewritetheareatermasA/h giving
Q = 5.1
p
gS
0
log
10
kP/A
15
10/9
+ 1.7
P
Q
!
(A(h)/h)
3/2
P
1/2
(h)
h
3/2
andagain, thedominant variationwithh isinthelast h
3/2
termsothat wewritetheequationinterms
19
of thisandsolvetogivetheformsuitablefor direct iteration:
h =
Q
5.1
gS
0
log
10
0.05
kP
A
10/9
+ 1.7
P
Q
2/3
P
1/3
(h)
A(h)/h
, (2.10)
wheretherst termisarelatively slowly varyingfunctionof h andQ, sothat thisisasingleequation
for h tobesolvediteratively.
Example 3: Calculatethenormal depthinthesametrapezoidal channel as Example2, of slope0.001,
width 10 m, with side slopes 2 : 1, carrying a ow of 20 m
3
s
1
, but instead of an assumption as to
Manningscoefcient, wesimplyestimatetheequivalent roughnessof thebedtobek = 1 cm.
Usingequation(2.10) andstartingwithh = 2 wehavethesequenceof approximations: 2.000, 0.9245,
1.050, 1.032, 1.034, 1.034.
Wecanseethat thevalueof theroughnesscoefcient makesadifference!
2.2 A theoretical approachtofrictioninchannels
WehavetheWeisbachequationfromHydromechanics,
H =
L
D
V
2
2g
, (2.11)
whereH is thehead loss in apipeof diameter D and length L with mean velocity V in thepipe
direction, andwithdimensionless frictioncoefcient . Inthoselectures weusedU for pipevelocity,
herewereservethat symbol for meanhorizontal velocityinthechannel.
Now wewant to calculate thestress around the pipe boundary so that wecan use it for momentum
calculationsinchannels. Therateof energylossinthepipeis
E = gQH = Q
L
D
V
2
2
, (2.12)
wherethis energy loss comes fromauniformstress
0
aroundthepipeboundary doingwork against
theow. Therateof work is given by thetotal forceon theuid (
0
D L) multiplied by the
meanvelocity inthesystemQ/A = Q/
D
2
/4
. Equatingtheenergylossrateintermsof headloss,
equation(2.11), tothisworkratedonebythewall stress,
Q
L
D
V
2
2
=
0
DL
4Q
D
2
,
andsolvingfor theshear force
0
onthepipe:
0
=

8
V
2
.
Thedirection of thestress is parallel to thebed at any point and oppositeto theuid velocity. In a
channel it ispossiblefor owtoreverse(asit alsomight inany element inamorecomplicatedsystem
thanasinglepipe), Hencewewriteinstead
0
=
8
V |V | , (2.13)
sothat thestressisalwaysoppositetotheuidvelocity.
Wenowapplythistothecaseof owinachannel. Thisismorecomplicatedthanowinapipeasstress
is not constant aroundtheboundary. Weassumethat thelocal stress is given by this formula(2.13),
but whereV isthelocal meanstreamwisevelocityinthevicinityof thepoint considered. Thisremains
undenedat thisstage it couldbethemeanvalueover thedepthat that point.
20
x
V
z = Z +Z
z = Z
z = +
z =
x
z
y
s
P

y
x
(b) Sideelevationof elemental prism (a) General arrangement
Figure2-3. Element of channel showingdimensionsandshear forces

Figure2-3 shows part of asliceof channel of thickness x, and an element of theslicethat is y
wide. Weusethesymbol Z(x, y) toreprersent thebedelevation, assumingthat thebeddoesnot move
intime, andthesymbol (x, t) torepresent thesurfaceelevation, assumingthat thisishorizontal across
thechannel so that it does not dependupony. Over theincrement x downstream, thebedelevation
changes fromZ to Z + Z, andthesurfaceelevationfrom to + , bothof whichareactually
negativefor thecaseshown. Inpart (a) of thegureit canbeseenthat onthebedthis element marks
out arectangletiltedat anangleof to thex axis, withdimensions s alongthebedof thechannel
andelement of perimeter P. Theshear stressonthiselement is
0
. A representativevelocityparallel
to thebed is V . Theforcein theplaneof thebed is
0
s P, directed upstream. Thecomponent
of forceinthex directionis simply this times thecosineof theanglebetweenthedownstreamslope
directionandthex axis, whichisx/s, andsowehavethex-component of shear forceonthebed,
0
xP. Integratingaroundthebedperimeter togiveT
x
, theforceonthewholeslice, andusing
equation(2.13):
T
x
= x
Z
P

0
dP = x
Z
P
8
V |V | dP.
However, V is roughly at anangle tothex axis, themeanslopeangleof thebedbeneath. Wewrite
thetermV |V | intermsof themeanvelocityinthestreamQ/A asV |V | = Q|Q| /A
2
/ cos
2
, where
isafactor whichwill varyfrom0at thebanks, wherethelocal velocityiszero, tosomevaluegreater
than1inthecentral part of thechannel. Hence
T
x
= x
Q|Q|
8A
2
Z
P
cos
2
dP. (2.14)
If theknowledgeof theowandtheboundaryweresufcient, theintegral couldbeevaluated. However,
inalmost all situationssuchinformationisnot available, andweapproximatetheintegral bywriting
Z
P
cos
2
dP =

P, (2.15)
in terms of the effective mean value of

around the boundary, and recognising that almost always
cos
2
1. Thisgivestheforce
T
x
= x
8
Q|Q| P
A
2
. (2.16)
Thisexpressionanditsderivationhereshowthenatureof our approachtofriction, that thelocal force
is effectively givenby adrag-forceapproximation, proportional to thesquareof themeanvelocity in
thechannel, andproportional tothewettedperimeter. Wehaveassumedthat theforceis givenby the
local valueof velocityat anytime,sothat it isassumedthat theexpressionappliesevenif conditionsare
changingalongthechannel or intime. It seemstobeasimpleandgeneral approximation.
21
Itisconvenientnowtowritethisintermsof conveyanceK intheformgivenbyequation(2.9) for steady
uniformow
K = C
A
3/2
P
1/2
=
r
8g
A
3/2
P
1/2
afunctionof thelocal water surfaceheight, eventhoughthis may bevaryingintimeand/or alongthe
channel. Equation(2.16) becomes
T
x
= gAx
Q|Q|
K
2
. (2.17)
2.3 Thelongwaveequationsfor straight waterways
Summary: Inthissectionaderivationof theone-dimensional longwaveequationsfor unsteadynon-
uniformowinstraight waterwaysispresented. Theendresult isapair of partial differential equations
for dischargeandsurfaceelevation. Thesedescribethevariationof water surfacealongariver insteady
ow, or moregenerally, theevolutionof oods anddisturbances inopenchannels, bothat thecoreof
river engineeringcalculations.
x
z
z
x
Q+Q
Q
i x
Topof control volume
Water surface
Figure2-4. Elemental lengthof channel showingcontrol volumeextendedintotheair
2.3.1 Mass conservation equation
Consider theelemental sectionof thicknessx of non-uniformwaterwayshowninFigure2-4, bounded
by two vertical planes parallel to they z plane. Consider also thecontrol volumemadeup of this
elemental section, but continued into theair such that thebottomand lateral boundaries aretheriver
banks, andtheupper boundaryisarbitrarybut never intersectedbythewater.
TheMass Conservation equation in integral formis, written for a control volumeCV bounded by a
control surfaceCS,
t
Z
CV
dV
| {z }
Total massinCV
+
Z
CS
u. ndS
| {z }
Rateof owof massacrossboundary
= 0,
wheret istime, dV isanelement of volume, u is thevelocity vector, n isaunit vector withdirection
normal to and directed outwards fromthecontrol surfacesuch that u. n is thecomponent of velocity
normal tothesurfaceat anypoint, anddS istheelemental areaof thecontrol surface.
As thedensity of theair is negligiblecompared with thewater, thedomain of integration in therst
22
integral reduces to the volume of water in the control volume, and considering the elemental slice,
dV = xdA , wheredA isanelement of cross-sectional area, thetermbecomes
x

t
Z
A
dA = x
A
t
Nowconsideringthesecondintegral, ontheupstreamfaceof thecontrol surface, u. n = u , whereu
isthex component of velocity, sothat thecontributionduetoowenteringthecontrol volumeis
Z
A
udA = Q.
Similarlythedownstreamfacecontributionis
+ (Q+Q) = +
Q+
Q
x
x
.
Ontheboundaries whicharethebanks of thestream, thevelocity component normal to theboundary
is very small and poorly-known. Wewill includeit inasuitably approximatemanner. Welumpthis
contributionfromgroundwater, inowfromrainfall, andtributariesenteringthewaterway, asavolume
rateof i per unit lengthenteringthestream. Therateat whichmassentersthecontrol volumeisix
(i.e. anoutowof ix). Combiningthecontributionsfromtherateof changeof massintheCV and
thenet contributionacrossthetwofaces, anddividingbyx wehavetheunsteadymassconservation
equation
A
t
+
Q
x
= i. (2.18)
Remarkablyfor hydraulicengineering, thisisanalmost-exactequation- theonlysignicantapproxima-
tionwehavemadeisthat thewaterwayisstraight, whichhasalmost universallybeenmadeinthepast.
Rather thantheformulationinterms of surfacearea, it isusually moreconvenient towork intermsof
stage(surfaceelevation) , andif weassumethat thewater surfaceishorizontal acrossthestream, then
if thesurfacechangesbyanamount inanincrement of timet, thentheareachangesbyanamount
A = B , fromwhichweobtainA/t = B /t, andthemassconservationequationcanbe
written
B
t
+
Q
x
= i. (2.19)
2.3.2 Momentum conservation equation
WecanwritetheMomentumConservationEquationinintegral form, similarlytotheMassConservation
Equation:
t
Z
CV
udV
| {z }
Total momentuminCV
+
Z
CS
uu. ndS
| {z }
Rateof owof momentumacrossboundary
= P
wherePistheforceexertedontheuidinthecontrol volumebybothbodyandsurfaceforces, thelatter
includingshear forcesandpressureforces. Thisisavector equation.
TherearetwomaincontributionstoP, forcesduetopressureandresistanceforces. Thepressureterm
canbewritten
R
CS
p ndS, thenegativesignshowingthat thelocal forceactsinthedirectionopposite
totheoutwardnormal. Substitutingthesecontributionsintothemomentumequation:
t
Z
CV
udV +
Z
CS
uu. ndS =
Z
CS
p ndS +Resistanceforces
Thepressuretermisverydifcult toevaluatefor non-prismaticwaterways, asthepressureandthenon-
23
constant unit vector havetobeintegratedover all thesubmergedfacesof thecontrol surface. A much
simpler derivationisobtainedif thetermisevaluatedusingtheGauss
6
DivergenceTheorem:
Z
CS
p ndS =
Z
CV
p dV
wherep = (p/x, p/y, p/z), thevector gradient of pressure. This has turnedacomplicated
surfaceintegral intoasimplevolumeintegral. Itcanbeunderstoodbyconsideringtheuidtobedivided
upintoanumber of elemental parallelepipeds, thepressureforceononeelemental facebeingcancelled
byitsforceontheother.
Nowtakingthex component of thevector momentumequationweobtain:
t
Z
CV
udV
| {z }
(a)
+
Z
CS
uu. ndS
| {z }
(b)
=
Z
CV
p
x
dV
| {z }
(c)
+T
x
|{z}
(d)
(2.20)
whereT
x
isthex-componentof theresistanceforceobtainedintheWeisbachformula(2.16). Wenow
makehydraulicapproximationsfor theseterms. Thersttwoareobtainedinthesamemanner asfor the
massconservationequation.
(a) Unsteady term: Therst termis
t
Z
CV
udV =

t
Z
A
udAx =
Q
t
x, (I)
withthepleasantresultthattherateof changeof momentumissimplyproportional totherateof change
of dischargeQ, suggestingfurther that dischargeismorefundamental thanvelocity.
(b) Momentum ux term: Therearetwo parts to this. Therst andless-important oneis from
contributions onsolidboundaries andtheair boundary dueto owseepinginor out of thegroundor
fromrainfall or tributaries. They arelumpedtogether as aninowi per unit length, as shownonthe
gure, suchthat themass rateof inowis ix, (i.e. anoutowof ix) andif this inowhas a
streamwisevelocityof u
i
beforeit mixeswiththewater, thecontributionis
xi u
i
. (IIa)
Themaincontributionisthat duetomomentumfromuidcrossingthecontrol surfacevia theupstream
(U/S) anddownstream(D/S) faces:
Z
U/S& D/SFace
uu. ndS =
Z
U/SFace
u
2
dA+
Z
D/SFace
u
2
dA. (2.21)
Almost never do weknowtheprecisevelocity distribution over theface. Weintroducean empirical
quantity suchthat theeffectsof bothnon-uniformity of velocity over asectionandturbulent uctua-
tionsareapproximatedby
Z
A
u
2
dA =
Q
2
A
,
where isthemomentum coefcient or Boussinesq coefcient. Hencewewritethecontribution(2.21)
6
J ohann Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855), a German mathematician and scientist of profound genius who
contributedsignicantlytomanyelds.
24
as
Z
CS
uu. ndS =
Q
2
A
U/SFace
+
Q
2
A
D/SFace
=

x
Q
2
A
x. (IIb)
Wewill seethatthistermisof relativemagnitudethatof thesquareof theFroudenumber, whichinriver
engineeringissmall inmanysituations.
(c) Pressure gradient term: Thisis
Z
CV
p
x
dV.
Theapproximationwenowmake, commonthroughout almost all open-channel hydraulics, isthehy-
drostaticapproximation, that pressureisgivenby
p g height of water above= g ( z) , (2.22)
which is the pressureat a point of elevation z where thefree surface directly abovehas elevation
whichisingeneral afunctionof bothx andt. Equation(2.22) istheexpressionobtainedinhydrostatics,
wheretheuidisnot moving. It isanexcellent approximationexcept wheretheowisstronglycurved,
such as wherethereareshort waves on theow, or near astructurewhich disturbs theow locally.
Differentiatingpartiallywithrespect tox gives
p
x
= g
x
,
such that the pressure gradient is determined by the slope of the free surface, which we assume is
constant acrossthestream. Substitutingintothepressuretermweobtain
Z
CV
p
x
dV = g
x
Ax (III)
(d) Resistance term: AboveweobtainedtheWeisbachexpression(2.16) whichwewroteinterms
of theconveyanceK asequation(2.17):
T
x
= gAx
Q|Q|
K
2
. (IV)
ManysourceswritethedimensionlesstermQ|Q| /K
2
asthequantityS
f
, whichinderivations(incor-
rectly) basedonenergy iscalledthe"energy gradient". Herewethink of it as anempirical coefcient
relatingthehorizontal component of theresistanceforceT
x
tothetotal gravitational forceof theuid
inthecontrol volumegAx, andwewill call ittheresistance slope. Thenegativesignwasintroduced
becausetheforceisalwaysdirectedoppositetotheowdirection.
Collecting terms: Combiningthecontributionstothemomentumequation(2.20), namely termsI,
IIa, IIb, III andIV, anddividingby x weobtainthegeneral one-dimensional momentumequation:
Q
t
+

x
Q
2
A
= gA
Q|Q|
K
2
gA
x
+ iu
i
Q
2
A
d
dx
. (2.23)
Expressing area derivatives in terms of surface elevation derivatives: Inbothmassandmomen-
tumequationswehavederivativesof areaA. It isusually moreconvenient tousethesurfaceelevation
, whichisaquantitythat iseasily measured. TheareaA isdenedby theintegral of thedepthacross
25
y
z
z =
z = Z
y = YR y = YL
Figure2-5. Viewalongchannel downstreamindirectionof x axisshowingimportant co-ordinates
thechannel
A =
Y
L
Z
Y
R
( Z) dy, (2.24)
wherethequantities aredenedas onFigure2-5. Notethedirectionof they axis, as weareusinga
right-handed(x, y, z) system. Thestreambedisdenedbyz = Z(x, y), andy = Y
R
andy = Y
L
dene
theright andleft waterlines, whicharefunctions of x andthelocal surfaceelevation. Theintegrand
Z issimplythelocal water depth, whichiszeroatthetwowaterlines. Differentiatingequation(2.24)
withrespect totimeweobtain
A
t
=
Y
L
Z
Y
R
t
dy =

t
Y
L
Z
Y
R
dy = B

t
,
as Z is not afunctionof timeand is constant across thechannel at any instant. It canbeshownby
morecareful applicationof theLeibniz
7
rulefor thederivativeof anintegral that thecontributionsfrom
thesidesareindeedzero.
A
B
y
z
Z
At x
At x +x
Figure2-6. Twochannel cross-sectionsseparatedbyx
Inthecaseof thex derivativeweobtain
A
x
=
Y
L
Z
Y
R
x

Z
x
dy = B
x

Y
L
Z
Y
R
Z
x
dy. (2.25)
Figure2-6suggeststhisresult. Thereareadditional contributionsfor thespecial casewhereavertical-
sidedcanal hassideswhichexpandor contract, but thisalmost never occursandwill beneglectedhere.
7
Gottfried WilhelmLeibniz (1646 1716), a German polymath fromHanover who occupies a large place
in the history of philosophy and the history of mathematics. He invented calculus independently of Newton,
andhisnotationistheoneingeneral usesince.
26
AsZ/x isthelocal downstreamslopeof thestreambed, it isconvenient tointroducethesymbol

S
suchthat
S =
1
B
Y
L
Z
Y
R
Z
x
dy (2.26)
for the mean longitudinal bed slope at a section. As the details of the bed Z(x, y) are usually not
particularlywell-known, thistermwill oftenjust beapproximatedbythemeanslopeof theriver. It has
anegativesign suchthat in theusual situation wherethebedslopes downwards inthedirectionof x
(Z/x negative),

S will bepositive. Inthecaseof uniformow

S is well-denedas simply thebed
slopeS
0
.
Usingequation(2.26), equation(2.25) canbewritten
A
x
= B
x
+

S
. (2.27)
Substitutingthis relationintoequation(2.23) gives themomentumequationgoverningows andlong
wavesinwaterwayswithQ and asdependent variables:
Q
t
+ 2
Q
A
Q
x
+
gA
Q
2
B
A
2

x
=
Q
2
B
A
2

S gA
Q|Q|
K
2
+ iu
i
Q
2
A
d
dx
. (2.28)
As theinowmomentumi u
i
and variation of momentumcoefcient aresmall and poorly known,
thereisroomfor somesimplicationby droppingthelast twotermsontheright. Doingthis, andrst
re-presentingthemass conservationequation, wehavethelong wave equations, widely knownas the
Saint Venant
8
equations:
t
+
1
B
Q
x
=
i
B
, (2.29a)
Q
t
+ 2
Q
A
Q
x
+
gA
Q
2
B
A
2

x
=
Q
2
B
A
2

S gA
Q|Q|
K
2
, (2.29b)
apair of partial differential equationsfor andQasfunctionsof x andt, thatexpresstheevolutionwith
timeand/or spaceof disturbancesinwaterways. Theyareat thecoreof muchhydraulicmodelling, and
several well-knowncommercial programsareavailable.
Theseequationsaremoreaccuratethaniscommonlyrealised theyhavefewessential approximations,
however theknowledgeof termssuchasfrictionfactorsandtheprecisegeometryof thestreamareoften
poor. The mass conservation equation (2.29a) is exact, within the approximation that the waterway
is not curvedandthesurfaceis horizontal across thestream. Thederivationof thedynamic equation
(2.29b) requiredtheadditional assumptionsthatthepressuredistributionishydrostaticandthatthenon-
uniformityof velocityover asectioncanbeexpressedbytheBoussinesqmomentumcoefcient. Unlike
manyderivations, itisnotnecessarytoassumethatvelocityisuniformover eachcrosssection, asalmost
all resultscanbepresentedintermsof discharge. Intheonlytermwhereanassumptionhastobemade
astothevelocitydistribution, theBoussinesqmomentumcoefcienthasbeenintroduced. Wewill show
belowthatthetermscontainingthisquantityareof theorder of theFroudenumber squared, suchthatits
precisevalueisusuallynot important, andinmanyapplicationsit canbeneglected. It isnot necessary
toassumethatthebedslopeissmall, asinthederivationacontrol surfacewasusedwheretheimportant
faceswereperpendicular tocartesiancoordinateaxes, andapostulatewasmadethat anapproximation
tothehorizontal component of shear stresseswasused.
Thelongwaveequationsareusedtosimulatesteadyowconditionsinriversandcanals, thepropagation
of oodwavesandtheroutinesimulationof irrigationchannel operations. Thereisasoftwareindustry
whichspecialisesinnumerical solutions. Inthiscoursewewill notconsider numerical methods, butwill
8
Adhmar J ean Claude Barr de Saint-Venant (1797 1886), aFrench mechanician who contributed to early
stressanalysisandhydraulicengineering.
27
extract thenatureof solutionsof theequations, whichprovidesinsight andapathtosimpler techniques.
2.4 Thepropagationof longwavesandoodsinrivers
Therehavebeenanumber of differentinterpretationsof thenatureof thepropagationof longwavesand
oods inrivers, as describedby equations (2.29). Somequitemisleadingresults havebeenobtained.
Wewill nowconsider these, as they areoftenconsideredinresearchpapers as well as morepractical
applications likethechoiceof softwareor, moreimportantly, andunderstanding of thereal natureof
longwavepropagation.
2.4.1 A simplied view of the equations for no friction or slope
Consider the special case of a river with no inow i = 0, of zero slope

S = 0, and zero friction
= 0 (suchthat K ), suchthat thereis nounderlyingbaseow, andwecanalso neglect terms

proportional toQ
2
, easilyshowntobeof thesizeof F
2
anyway, theequationsbecomebecome
t
+
1
B
Q
x
= 0, (2.30a)
Q
t
+gA
x
= 0. (2.30b)
Nowweconsidersmall disturbancesonlysuchthattheareaAandbreadthB canbeconsideredconstant.
To givea simpler equation wecan eliminateQ by differentiating equation (2.30a) with respect to t,
equation(2.30b) withrespecttox, andcombiningthetwoequationssuchthattheQderivativescancel,
t
2

gA
B

2
x
2
= 0. (2.31)
This is thewell-knownWave Equation that describes themotionof taut strings suchas violinstrings,
soundwavesinatube, vibrationsof abeam, etc. Theequationcanbeshowntohavethegeneral solution
(x, t) =
1
(x Ct) +
2
(x +Ct), (2.32)
where
1
isany functionof itsargument x Ct, and
2
isany functionof itsargument x +Ct, where
C =
p
gA/B.
x
0
t
0
+
x
0
C
t
x
t
0
(x
0
, t
0
+)
x
0
+C
Figure2-7. (x, t) axes, showinginformationat apoint arrivingfromupstreamanddownstreamat speedC
Wewill show that thesesolutions correspond to wavemotion in the+veand vex directions. On
Figure2-7consider thepoint x
0
at atimet
0
+ , where is acomputational timestep such as we
might needtocomputethesolutionat thelater timet
0
+ . Consider alsoasecondpoint upstreama
distanceCsuchthatthex-co-ordinateisx
0
C, butattheearlier timet
0
. Weformthecombination
x Ct, theargument of
1
, at therst point (x
0
, t
0
+), giving
x Ct|
(x
0
,t
0
+)
= x
0
C (t
0
+) = x
0
Ct
0
C (2.33)
28
Nowweformthesamequantityat thesecondearlier andupstreampoint (x
0
C, t
0
):
x Ct|
(x
0
C,t
0
)
= x
0
CCt
0
, (2.34)
thesameasattherstpointandtime, equation(2.33). Asthevalueof xCt isthesameatthetwopoints
(andeverywhereonthelinejoiningthem), thefunction
1
(x Ct) is thesameat thetwo points and
everywhereontheline, suchthatthiscontributiontothesurfaceheightisthesameatthetwopoints, and
what wehaveseenis that thesurfaceelevationat (x
0
C, t
0
) has travelledto (x
0
, t
0
+) without
change, as if awavehad travelled fromtherst point to thesecond. This shows thetravelling-wave
natureof solutionsof thewaveequation(2.32), that asolutionconsistsof any disturbance
1
(x Ct)
travelling in the positive x-direction at velocity +C and a disturbance
2
(x +Ct) travelling in the
negativex-directionat velocityC.
Incomputational problemswedonot knowthevaluesat theintermediatespatial pointsx
0
C, but
insteadatdiscretecomputational pointsatprevioustimes, shownbythecrossesonthegure. A problem
insuchcomputational problemsistointerpolate theintermediatevaluesfromsetsof point values. This
iseasilydone.
Wewill consider morecomputational aspectsbelow, for thefull problemrather thanour idealisedone
here. Equation(2.32) andtheabovediscussionsuggest that it is necessary toknowmorethanjust the
initial elevation intheriver tostart acomputational solution. Thelinearisedandsimpliedequations
(2.30) showthefeatureof thefull equations, that thedecomposition of thesolution at timet = 0 is
determinedby two setsof initial conditions (1) thevalueof alongthex-axis, and(2) thevalueof Q
alongthesameaxis, whichwewouldusetogive/t fromequation(2.30a).
2.4.2 The characteristic formulation of the full equations
It canbeshownmathematically that solutions of thefull equations (2.29) haveasimilar structureand
behaviour to those of the linearised equations we have just considered, but they differ substantially
in details. In thepresent case, instead of adopting asomewhat ad hoc approach, it can bedonesys-
tematically. Thetwopartial differential equations(2.29) canbeexpressedasfour ordinary differential
equations. Two of thedifferential equations arefor x as afunctionof t whereinthis casex(t) is the
positionof amathematicallyconvenientpathknownasacharacteristic, suchasthetwostraightlineson
Figure2-7for thelinearisedcase.
Thefull equationsarerstly, thepair of ordinarydifferential equations
dx
dt
=
Q
A
C, (2.35)
wheretherstpartQ/A, issimply timesthemeanuidvelocityinthewaterwayatthatsection. The
quantityC isnowdenedmoregenerallyas
C =
r
gA
B
+
Q
2
A
2
, (2.36)
whichwecanseeissimilar toour previousdenitionC =
p
gA/B, but whereweassumedA andB
wereconstant anddisturbancesweresmall. Nowtheycanbefunctionsof x andt.
The result in equation (2.36) has included the momentumcoefcient . If we assume that velocity
is constant over thesection such that = 1 weobtain thetraditional result given in textbooks that
C =
p
gA/B, whereA/B is themeandepth, andC is referredinthosebooksas the"dynamic wave
speed", or the"longwavespeed", andit is assertedthat disturbances inchannels travel at that speed.
Belowwewill beassertingthatthisisoneof thegreatmythsof hydraulics, andthatdisturbancesactually
travel inadifferent manner, andcertainlynot at that speed.
Equation(2.35) showsthattherearetwodifferentvelocitiesof propagation, bothcontainingthecommon
termQ/A, dueto themotionof thewater. Relativeto thewater therearetwo contributions of C,
corresponding to both upstreamand downstreampropagation of information. The effect of the full
29
x
0
t
0
+
x
+
0
t
x
t
0
(x
0
, t
0
+)
x
0
1
U +C
1
U C
Figure2-8. Nonlinear (full equations) versionof Figure2-7showingqualitativelythesamebehaviour asthelinear
case. ThequantityU hasbeenintroducedfor themeanvelocityQ/A.
equationsonthecharacteristicsisshowninFigure2-8. Therst differenceisthat asthestreamvelocity
termnowenters, theoverall gradientsof thetwocharacteristicsaredifferent: the"downstream" or "+"
characteristic has a velocity at any point of U + C, wherewe have used U = Q/A for the mean
velocity. Intheusual casewhereU ispositive, bothpartsarepositiveandthetermislarge. Asshownon
thediagram, the"upstream" or "-" characteristic hasavelocityU C, whichisusually negativeand
smaller inmagnitudethantheother. Not surprisingly, upstream-propagatingdisturbances travel more
slowly. Theseconddifferenceis that thecharacteristics arenowcurved, as all quantities determining
themarenownot constant, but functions of thevariableA, B, andQ. This gives thethirddifference,
that thecharacteristics do not cross theprevious time-level t
0
at aneasily-calculatedpositionof
x
0
Cbut at atimethat formspart of thenecessarynumerical solution.
It canbeshownthat onthetwocharacteristicsgivenbythetwoalternativesof equation(2.35), thetwo
remainingdifferential equationsfor andQ are:
B
Q
A
C
d
dt
+
dQ
dt
=
Q
2
B
A
2

S gA
Q|Q|
K
2
+i
Q
A
C
, (2.37)
takingthecorrespondingplusor minussignsineachcase. Toadvancethesolutionnumerically means
that thefour differential equations(2.35) and(2.37) havetobesolvedover time, usuallyanitestep
at atimestep, andover thewholelengthof thechannel.
Theuseof characteristicshasledtoawidespreadmisconceptioninhydraulicswhereC isunderstoodto
bethespeedof propagationof waves. It is not it isthespeedof characteristics. If surfaceelevation
wereconstant onacharacteristic therewouldbesomejusticationinusingthetermwavespeed for
thequantity C, asdisturbancestravellingat that speedcouldbeobserved. However asequation(2.37)
holds ingeneral, neither (surfaceelevation what wesee), nor Q, is constant onthecharacteristics
andonewouldnot haveobservabledisturbancesor dischargeuctuationstravellingat C relativetothe
water. WhileC may bethespeedof propagationof informationinthewaterway relativetothewater,
it cannot properlybetermedthewavespeedasit wouldusuallybeunderstood. Belowwewill seethat
thereisactuallynosuchthingasauniquewavespeed.
2.4.3 The low inertia approximation diffusion routing and the nature of wave propagation
Equations(2.29a) and(2.29b) (thelong wave or Saint-Venant equations) describewavemotioninrivers
andcanals. Wehaveseenthat mathematically thesolutions of theseequations look liketwo families
of waves, withinformation(but not thewavesthemselves) propagatingat twodifferent velocities, one
upstream, theother downstream. At thisstageit hasnot beenpossibletodescribesimplythebehaviour
of theactual disturbances.
Inmost rivers, however, theowvelocityisrelativelysmall, suchthat alargesimplicationispossible,
andasimpledescriptionispossible. Wenowshowthatseveral termsinthemomentumequation(2.29b)
30
areof theorder of magnitudeof F
2
, andcanbeignored. Heretheequationisre-written:
Q
t
+ 2
Q
A
Q
x
+
gA
Q
2
B
A
2

x
=
Q
2
B
A
2

S gA
Q|Q|
K
2
. (Momentumequation)
Firstlyconsider Q/t. ThedischargeQisof anorder of magnitudeV W D, whereV isatypical
velocity, W isatypical width, andDisatypical meandepth. Thetimescaleof motionisgivenbyL/V ,
whereL isatypical lengthscaleof thewavemotiondownthewaterway, andour velocityscaleV gives
ameasureof howquicklyit isswept past. Hence,
Q
t
isof ascale
V W D
L/V
=
V
2
WD
L
.
Now weexaminethescaleof thetermgA/x, and hereweassumethat thevertical scaleof our
disturbancesisthevertical scaleof thechannel D, giving
gA
x
isof ascaleg W D
D
L
=
gWD
2
L
.
Nowwecomparethemagnitudesof thetwotermsQ/t : gA/x andwendthat theratioof the
twotermsisof ascale
V
2
WD
L

L
gWD
2
=
V
2
gD
, thescaleof theFroudenumber squared.
Hence, possiblytoour surprise, wendthat therelativemagnitudeof thetermQ/t isroughlyF
2
. In
manyowsinriversandcanals, thevelocitiesaresmall enoughthat F
2
isasmall quantity. Examining
theother componentsof themomentumequationit canbeshownthat all of thetermswith arealsoof
order F
2
. If weneglectall suchterms, therebymakingthelow-inertia approximation, wendthatthe
momentumequation(2.29b) cansimplybeapproximatedby
x
=
Q
2
K
2
, (2.38)
wherewehaveassumedthattheowisinonedirection, suchthatQ|Q| = Q
2
. Thatthelongdifferential
equationfor momentumsimpliessomuchfor slowows, asinthemajorityof rivers, issomethingof
asurprise.
Rewritingtheequation:
Q = K
r
x
, (2.39)
which is closely similar to theexpression we obtained fromuniformow, that Q = K
S
0
, where
S
0
was the(constant) bedslope. (Notethat /x is always negativeinsituations wherethis theory
applies!). Hencewehavethefortunateresult that thereisasimplerelationshipbetweendischargeand
surfaceslope, obtainedonthebasisof approximatingthefull momentumequation, providedtheFroude
number issufcientlysmall, whichreducestotheuniformowexpression.
It isthisformulationwhichisthemost convenient for practical application, asdischargeQ andsurface
elevation arethequantitiesof greatestinterest. However, thesectionpropertiessuchasareaA, surface
breadthB, wettedperimeter P aremoreeasily expressedasfunctionsof alocal elevationco-ordinate,
possibly relativeto thebottomof thesection or to themean surfacelevel, rather than . Henceit is
easier tointroducealocal elevationh relativetothelocal co-ordinateoriginZ
0
(x) asshowninFigure
1-2. This can vary arbitrarily, but in prismatic sections will usually bethelevel of thebottomof the
section, inwhichcaseh isthemaximumdepthof water inthechannel. Inmoregeneral non-prismatic
situationsit may not betheactual maximumdepthat asection(assuggestedby thegure), but Z
0
(x)
canbechosentobenear thebottomof theriver, whenh isroughlyequal tothemaximumdepth.
31
x
z
y
(x, t)
(x, t)
h(x, t)
y3
y2 y
1
h(x, t)
z
y
Z
0
(x)
Z(x, y1)
Z(x, y
2
)
Z(x, y
3
)
(x, t)
Z
0
(x)
Z0(x)
(a) Cross-section (b) Longitudinal section
Figure2-9. Relationshipbetweensurfaceelevation(x, t) andthedepth-likequantityh(x, t) measuredrelativeto
thearbitraryaxisZ
0
(x)
Bedproles: Z(x, y
n
), n = 1, 2, . . .
x
z
y
z = (x, t)
h(x, t)
z = Z
0
(x), local referenceco-ordinate
Figure2-10. Relationshipbetweensurfaceelevation(x, t) andthedepth-likequantityh(x, t) measuredrelative
tothearbitraryaxisZ
0
(x)
Asthislocal elevationh isgivenby = Z
0
+h,
x
= S
0
+
h
x
, where S
0
=
dZ
0
dx
,
whichnowis theslopeof thelocal co-ordinateorigin, whichwemay think of as beingthemeanbed
slope.
Thesimpliedmomentumequation(2.39) canbewrittenintermsof h:
Q = K
r
S
0
h
x
. (2.40)
WeeliminatethedischargeQ fromtheequations by simply substitutingequation(2.40) intothemass
conservationequation(2.29a), notingthat asthebeddoesnot move, /t = h/t, togivethesingle
partial differential equationinthesinglevariableh: ,
h
t
+
1
B

x
K
r
S
0
h
x
!
= 0. (2.41)
32
Thisequationcouldbeusedasthebasisfor manycalculationsof thepropagationof disturbances, where
theonly approximationrelativetothefull equations that has beenmadeis that F
2
is small. Wecould
call it thelow-inertiaequation. For themoment, our main aimis to obtain insight into thenatureof
solutionsof thisequationandhowwavespropagateinrivers. Wewill consider aprismaticchannel, such
that theconveyanceisafunctionof roughnessandof thelocal depthh, but not aseparatefunctionof x,
sothat wewrite
K
x
=
dK
dh
h
x
,
andperformingthedifferentiationof equation(2.41) weobtain
h
t
+
1
B
r
S
0
h
x
dK
dh
h
x

K
2B

2
h
x
2
S
0
h
x
1/2
= 0.
We assume that if the variation of the local depth is small compared with the overall slope so that
|h/x| S
0
wehavetheequation
h
t
+
S
0
B
dK
dh
h
x
=
K
2B
S
0
2
h
x
2
, (2.42)
whichwewriteas
h
t
+c
h
x
=

2
h
x
2
, (2.43)
wherec isapropagationspeed, thekinematic wave speed, and isadiffusioncoefcient (withunitsof
L
2
T
1
), whicharegivenby
c =
S
0
B
dK
dh
and =
K
2B
S
0
. (2.44)
Equation (2.43) is an advection-diffusion equation, and through it the nature of wavepropagation is
rather clearer thantheoriginal pair of equationsor thecharacteristicsformulation.
The nature of solutions Thenatureof solutionsof equationswithadvectionanddiffusiontermsare
well known, andthismakespossibleaphysical descriptionof wavemotioninwaterways:
1. Advection only Kinematic waves: Solutionsof theadvectionequation
h
t
+c
h
x
= 0 (2.45)
areeasilyshowntobeawaveform, anywaveform, travellinginthepositivex directionwithvelocity
c. Thewaveformis saidto beadvected, or carriedwiththeowwithout change. For c constant
thegeneral solutionof theequationish = f(x ct), wheref() isany function. Inthecontext of
river hydraulics, suchsolutions aretermedkinematic waves. Theresult inequation(2.44) for the
advectionspeed, is calledthekinematic wave speed. It plays animportant roleinthat it gives the
approximatespeedat whichaoodpeak travels. Wenowcalculateit intermsof commonchannel
propertiesandapproximations. Fromequations(2.9) wehave
K =
1
n
A
5/3
P
2/3
for theG-M-Sformula. Differentiating,
dK
dh
=
1
n
5
3
A
2/3
P
2/3
dA
dh

2
3
A
5/3
P
5/3
dP
dh
!
and using the result that dA/dh = B, the surface width, and re-grouping and substituting into
33
equation(2.44) for c:
c =
S
0
B
dK
dh
=
1
n
S
0
B
A
2/3
P
2/3
5
3
B
2
3
A
P
dP
dh
.
Infact, most of thetermsinfront of theexpressionaretheright sideof theG-M-Sformulafor the
meanvelocityU inthechannel, sothat wecanwrite
c = U

5
3

2
3
A
PB
dP
dh
or c =
5
3
U

1
2
5
A
PB
dP
dh
Thequantity dP/dh iseasily showntobe2

p
1 +
2
, where isthesideslope, sothat thismight
haveavalueof, for = 2 say, of 2
5 4.5. Thismeansthat therelativecontributionduetothe

perimeter changingisroughly2 A/BP, whichisthetwicethemeandepthdividedbythewetted
perimeter, whichwill besmall for typical wideshallowchannels. Hence, ignoringthiscontribution
weseethat if Manningfrictionisused, theadvectionvelocity, thevelocitywithwhichdisturbances
aretransported, isabout 5/3 timesthemeanvelocityinthewaterway, Q/A. If wehadusedChzy
frictionthisfactor wouldhavebeen3/2.
2. Also, solutionsof thediffusionequation
t
=
x
2
(2.46)
haveasimplemathematical structure. Anydisturbanceisdampedat anexponential ratewherethe
exponent isinverselyproportional tothesquareof thewavelength, suchthat short disturbancesand
irregularitiesaredampedveryquickly, andtheprocessof diffusionissuchastosmoothsolutions. In
thecaseof theadvection-diffusionequation(2.43) theprocessesarecombined, suchthat wavesare
advectedataspeedc andthewaveproleundergoesdiffusionatthesametime. Thisisillustratedin
Figure2-11, whichisthesolutionfor aninnitechannel withasingledisturbancewhichiscarried
downstreamanddiffused.
x
Figure2-11. Exact analytical solutionof advection-diffusionequationbeginningwithasinglespike
Itisimportanttondoutmoreaboutthereal natureof wavepropagationinwaterways. Hereweprovide
a simpletool for estimating therelativeimportanceof diffusion. If wewereto scaletheadvection-
diffusionequation(2.43) suchthat it wasintermsof dimensionlessvariablesX = x/L, whereL isthe
lengthof reach, suchthatX goesfrom0to1, andadimensionlesstimescaleT = tc/L,suchthatT = 1
34
isthetimetakenfor awavetotransit thepool, thensubstitutingintoequation(2.43) gives
T
dT
dt
+c

X
dX
dx
=

2
X
2
dX
dx
2
, then
T
c
L
+c

X
1
L
=

2
X
2
1
L
2
, andmultiplyingthrough:
T
+

X
=

cL

2
X
2
and theimportanceof thediffusion termto theother terms is thedimensionless number /cL. This
looksliketheinverseof aReynoldsnumber (whichiscorrect theReynolds number is theinverseof
adimensionless viscosity or diffusion number). Nowwesubstitutein theapproximations for awide
channel, giving:
A measureof theimportanceof diffusion =

cL
=
K
2B
S
0

B
S
0
K
0
(h) L
=
K/K
0
(h)
2 S
0
L
, andasK d
5/3
thisgives
3
10

h
S
0
L
.
Thisisauseful result, for itshowsustheeffectsof diffusionverysimply, ash isthedepthof thestream,
andS
0
L istheamount bywhichastreamdropsover thereachof interest, wehave
A measureof theimportanceof diffusion
3
10

Depthof stream
Dropof stream
.
This shows asurprising result, which is contained in theformulaeabove, that for streams which are
steep and thewater depth relatively shallow, suchas steep mountain streams, thegravity andfriction
terms areinbalance, andinthishighfrictionlimit, apparently paradoxically, theoodwavemoves as
akinematic wavewithlittlediminution. Ontheother hand, whereslopesareshallowandfrictionless,
suchasinirrigationchannels, theeffectsof diffusionarestronger, inapparent contradictiontowhat one
mightexpect. Thisisanunusual andunexpectedresult, andopposestheintuitivepractical interpretation
of thebehaviour of wavesinriversandchannelsthat theytravel without agreat deal of diminutiondue
tofriction. Infact, waves inawaterway withamildslopemay bemarkedly diminishedinheight and
spreadout muchmoreinspaceandtime.
Wehaveshownthat it ispossibletoformulatealow-inertiamodel suchthat it isagoodapproximation
in most cases of rivers and canals, and henceis worthy of further examination, as it is considerably
simpler thanthefull equations, bothinpresentationandnumerical properties. It shows that waves in
waterways withnitefriction travel downstreamat aspeedroughly equal to 5/3 Water speed, and
not upstreamand downstreamat a speed given by c =

g Meandepth, widely used for back of
theenvelopecalculations. Inreality, however, thediffusioncoefcient canbelarge, andtheequation
behavesmorelikethediffusionequation, wheredisturbancesarediminishedandspreadout inspaceas
timepasses.
Infact, what wehaveshowninthenotesabove, that wavesof different lengthsall travel at different ve-
locitiesandwithdifferentamountsof diffusion. Inmanysituationstheeffectsof diffusionaredominant.
Wecanconcludethat, unlikethestatement inmany textbooks, there is no such thing as a single wave
speed.
It has solutions which propagate at the velocity shown. As K = 1/n A
5/3
(h)/P
2/3
(h), we can
differentiateto givethekinematic wavespeedc for anarbitrary section. However for thepurposes of
thiscoursewecanconsider awiderectangular channel (h B) suchthat A Bh andP B such
that K = 1/nBh
5/3
. Differentiating, dK/dh = 1/n5/3 Bh
2/3
, andsubstitutinginto(2.44) we
35
obtain
c =
5
3

S
0
n
h
2/3
.
Now, thevelocity of owinthiswaterway isU = 1/n (A/P)
2/3
S
0
, whichfor our wide-channel
approximationis U

S
0
/n h
2/3
, andsoweobtaintheapproximaterelationshipfor thespeedof
propagationof disturbancesinawidechannel:
c
5
3
U, (2.47)
whichisaverysimpleexpression: thespeedof propagationof disturbancesisapproximately1
2
3
times
themeanspeedof thewater.
Inequation(2.36) aboveit wasstatedthat thereisavelocityat whichinformationtravelsinawaterway,
C =
r
gA
B
+
Q
2
A
2
.
Inall text booksthisispresentedfor = 1 suchthat C =
p
gA/B, whereA/B isthemeandepthof
thewater. It isindeedtheorder of magnitudeof thespeedat whichwavesdomoveover essentiallystill
water, but is widely used, incorrectly, to estimatethespeedof disturbances inrivers andcanals. It is
calledthedynamic wave speed, andpart of wavesdotravel at thisspeed. However, providedtheFroude
number issmall, suchthat F
2
1, equation(2.47) isagoodapproximationtothespeedat whichthe
bulkof disturbancespropagate.
10
11
12
0 5 10 15 20
D
i
s
c
h
a
r
g
e

(
c
u
.
m
/
s
)
Time (hours)
Inflow
Outflow
Figure2-12. Inowandoutowhydrographsfor asectionof awaterway, showingeffectsof diffusion
Nowto consider theeffects of diffusion, if weexaminethereal or simulatedpropagationof waves in
streams, theapparent motionisof wavespropagatingat thekinematicwavespeed, but showingmarked
diminution in sizeas they propagate. Weconsider as atest case, apool 7kmlong, bottomwidth of
7m, batter slopesof 1.5:1, alongitudinal slopeof 0.0001, adepthof 2.1mat thedownstreamgate, and
Manningsn = 0.02. Weconsider abaseowof 10m
3
s
1
increasedsmoothly(aGaussianfunctionof
time) by 25%uptoamaximumof 12.5m
3
s
1
andback downtothebaseowover aperiodof about
threehours. A computer programsimulatedconditionsinthecanal. TheresultspresentedinFigure2-12
showthat over thelengthof only 7kmthepeak dischargehas decreasedby about 50%andhasspread
out considerably intime- thewavepropagationisnot just asimpletranslation. Infact, thepeak takes
about 55minutes to traversethepool, whereas using thedynamic wavespeed that timewould be30
36
minutes, whilesimplyusingthekinematicwavespeedit wouldbe140minutes. Thewavehasdiffused
considerably, showingthat simpledeductionsbasedonawavespeedareonly part of thepicture. This
differencemight beimportant for oodwarningoperations.
Itisimportanttondoutmoreaboutthereal natureof wavepropagationinwaterways. Hereweprovide
a simpletool for estimating therelativeimportanceof diffusion. If wewereto scaletheadvection-
diffusion equation (2.43) such that it was in terms of adimensionless variablex/L which would be
of order of magnitude1, then theratio of theimportanceof thediffusion termto theadvection term
can beshown to be/cL. This looks liketheinverseof aReynolds number (which is correct the
Reynoldsnumber istheinverseof adimensionlessviscosityor diffusionnumber). Nowwesubstitutein
theapproximationsfor awidechannel, giving:
A measureof theimportanceof diffusion =

cL
=
K
2B
S
0

B
S
0
K
0
(h) L
=
K/K
0
(h)
2 S
0
L
, andasK h
5/3
thisgives
3
10

h
S
0
L
.
Thisisauseful result, for itshowsustheeffectsof diffusionverysimply, ash isthedepthof thestream,
andS
0
L istheamount bywhichastreamdropsover thereachof interest. Droppingthefactor of 3/10,
asour argumentsareorder-of-magnitudeat best:
A measureof theimportanceof diffusion
Depthof stream
Dropof stream
.
For theexampleabove, this is about 2.4, showingthat diffusionis as important as advection, andre-
mindingusthat theproblemisnot thesimpletranslationof awave.
Thisresultisalsointerestinginconsideringdifferenttypesof streams asteepshallowmountainstream
will showlittlediffusion, whereasadeepgentlyslopingstreamwill havemarkeddiffusion!
2.4.4 The general problem of solution of the equations
x
t
Downstream
control
Q = f2()
Initial conditionsat t = 0, Q(x, 0) and(x, 0) specied
t1
t
2
Upstream
inow
Q = f
1
(t)
specied
Figure2-13. (x, t) axesshowinginitial andboundary conditionsandatypical computational moduleconnecting
thevaluesat sixpoints
Theproblemis shown in Figure2-13, showing thex axis corresponding to distancealong theriver,
thet or timeaxis andcomputational points. To commencenumerical solutionit is necessary to know
theinitial conditions what thevaluesof Q and arealongthex axis, or at thecomputational points.
Theseinitial conditions arecomplemented by theupstreamboundary condition, usually given in the
formof adischargehydrograph, Q = f
1
(t), andthedownstreamboundary condition, whichisusually
that at somecontrol suchasaweir, whereQ = f
2
() might bespecied. Themost popular numerical
methodfor solvingtheequations intimeareImplicit Box (Preissmann) models, wherethederivatives
37
arereplacedbynite-differenceequivalents, givingalgebraicequationsfor pointvaluesof elevationand
dischargeinspaceandtime. At timet
1
apair of equationsarewrittenfor eachcomputational module
suchasthat shownby theellipse, givingtwoequationsfor threeunknownsat timet
2
. Suchequations
arewrittenall alongthex axis(i.e. for every computational point), givingasystemof N equationsin
N unknowns. Themethodiscomplicated, andseveral well-knowncommercial programsareavailable,
suchasdescribedinWater ResourcesandWater Management lectures.
It ismuchsimpler tousetheadvection-diffusionschemedescribedabovein2.4.3.
2.5 Thesteadyowproblem
A common problemin river engineering is, for example, howfar upstreamwater levels might bein-
creased, andhenceoodingenhanced, duetodownstreamworks, suchastheinstallationof abridge, or
gravel removal. wherethisarisesisinthevicinityof acontrol inachannel, wheretheremaybeastruc-
turesuchas aweir, whichhas aparticular dischargerelationshipbetweenthewater surfacelevel and
thedischarge. Far away fromthecontrol, theowmay beuniform, andtheretherelationshipbetween
surfaceelevationanddischargeisingeneral adifferent one, beinggivenbyafrictionequation, suchas
theG-M-Sequation. Thetransitionbetweenconditionsatthecontrol andwherethereisuniformowis
describedbythegradually-varied ow equation, whichisanordinarydifferential equationfor thewater
surfaceheight. Thesolutionwill approachuniformowif thechannel is prismatic, but ingeneral we
cantreat non-prismaticwaterwaysalso.
Normal depthh
0
h(x)
Figure2-14. Subcritical owretardedbyagate, showingtypical behaviour of thefreesurface
In sub-critical ow the ow is relatively slow, and the effects of any control can propagate back up
thechannel, andsoit isthat thenumerical solutionof thegradually-variedowequationalsoproceeds
inthat direction. Ontheother hand, insuper-critical ow, all disturbances areswept downstream, so
that theeffectsof acontrol cannot befelt upstream, andnumerical solutionalsoproceedsdownstream
fromthecontrol. Figure2-14shows atypical sub-critical owsituation, wherethedepthat acontrol
isgreater thanthenormal depth, andshowshowthefreesurfaceupstreamof thegatedecaystonormal
depthupstream.
Thegeneral unsteadyequations(2.29) canbewritten
t
+
1
B
Q
x
=
i
B
, and
Q
t
+ 2
Q
A
Q
x
+
gA
Q
2
B
A
2

x
=
Q
2
B
A
2

S gA
Q|Q|
K
2
.
Inmany practical problems wearemoreinterestedinthevariationof water level alongariver inthe
steadystaterather thanintransient changeswithtime. Settingthetimederivativeintherst equationto
zeroweobtainanequationfor Q(x):
Q(x) = Q
0
+
x
Z
x
0
idx,
38
or theowat anypoint isthat at theupstreampoint plustheintegral of all thedistributedinows. Here
for simplicitywewill consider noinow, sowejusthaveQ =constantastheequation. Substitutingthis
intothesecondequationweobtaintheordinarydifferential equation
d
dx
=
F
2

S Q
2
/K
2
1 F
2
where F
2
=
Q
2
B
gA
3
,
where, becauseQdoesnotchangesign, weuseQ|Q| = Q
2
. In2.4.3wefounditconvenienttousethe
local elevationh givenby = Z
0
+h, suchthat
d
dx
= S
0
+
h
x
, where S
0
=
dZ
0
dx
,
whichnowis theslopeof thelocal co-ordinateorigin, whichwemay think of as beingthemeanbed
slope. In fact, wewill assumeherethat thetwo arethesame, which wecan always choose, so that
S = S
0
, thebedslope, andsofor aprismaticchannel weobtain
dh
dx
=
S
0
Q
2
/K
2
1 F
2
. (Gradually-variedowequation)
ThisistheGradually-variedowequation, givingusadifferential equationfor thedepthat anypoint in
termsof thedischarge, theconveyance, andtheowgeometrygenerally.
2.5.1 Properties of gradually-varied ow and the governing equation
Theequationanditssolutionsareimportant, inthat theytell ushowfar theeffectsof astructureor
worksinor onastreamextendupstreamor downstream.
It isanordinarydifferential equationof rstorder, henceoneboundaryconditionmust besupplied
toobtainthesolution. Insub-critical ow, thisisthedepthatadownstreamcontrol; insuper-critical
owit isthedepthat anupstreamcontrol.
Ingeneral that boundary depthis not equal tothenormal depth, andthedifferential equationde-
scribes thetransition fromtheboundary depth to normal depth upstreamfor sub-critical ow,
downstreamfor supercritical ow. Thesolutionslooklikeexponential decaycurves, andbelowwe
will showthat theyare, toarst approximation.
Thedifferential equationisnonlinear, andthedependenceonh iscomplicated, suchthatanalytical
solutionisnot possiblewithout anapproximation, andwewill usuallyusenumerical methods.
If that approximationismade, theresultinganalytical solutionisuseful inprovidinguswithsome
insight intothequantitieswhichgoverntheextent of theupstreamor downstreaminuence.
Theuniformowlimit satises thedifferential equation, for when Q = K
S
0
, thenumerator
S
0
Q
2
/K
2
(h) = 0 sothat dh/dx = 0, andthedepthdoesnot change.
If theowapproachescritical ow, whenF
2
1, thendh/dx , andthesurfacebecomes
vertical. This violates theassumptionwemadethat theowis gradually variedandthepressure
distributionishydrostatic. Thisistheonegreat failureof our openchannel hydraulicsat thislevel,
that it cannot describethetransitionbetweensub- andsuper-critical ow.
2.5.2 Numerical solution of the gradually-varied ow equation
Consider theGradually-variedowequation:
dh
dx
=
S
0
Q
2
/K
2
1 F
2
, (2.48)
whereF
2
= Q
2
B(h)/gA
3
(h) isafunctionof Q aswell asthedepthh. However asQ isconstant for a
particular problemwedonot showthefunctional dependenceonit. Theequationisadifferential equa-
tionof rstorder, andtoobtainsolutionsitisnecessarytohaveaboundaryconditionh = h
0
atacertain
x = x
0
, whichwill beprovidedby acontrol. Theproblemmay besolvedusingany of anumber of
39
methodsavailablefor solvingordinarydifferential equationswhicharedescribedinbooksonnumerical
methods. Thesemethods areusually accurateandcanbefoundinmany standardsoftwarepackages.
It issurprisingthat booksonopenchannelsdonot recognisethat theproblemof numerical solutionof
thegradually-variedowequationis actually astandardnumerical problem, althoughpractical details
may makeit morecomplicated. Instead, suchtextsusemethodssuchas theDirect stepmethod and
theStandard step method. Thereareseveral softwarepackages such as HEC-RAS which usesuch
methods, but solutionof thegradually-variedowequationis not adifcult problemtosolvefor spe-
cicproblemsinpracticeif oneknowsthat it ismerelythesolutionof adifferential equation, andhere
webrieyset out thenatureof suchschemes.
Thedirectionof solutionisveryimportant. AssuggestedbyFigure2-14, for themildslope(sub-critical
ow) casesthatthesurfacedecayssomewhatexponentiallytonormal depthupstreamfromadownstream
control. Inthecaseof asteepslope(super-critical ow) casesthesurfacedecaysexponentiallytonormal
depth downstream froman upstreamcontrol. This means that to obtain numerical solutions wewill
always solve(a) for sub-critical ow: fromthecontrol upstream, and(b) for super-critical ow: from
thecontrol downstream.
Eulers method: Thesimplest(Euler) schemetoadvancethesolutionfrom(x
i
, h
i
) to(x
i
+x, h
i+1
)
is
x
i+1
x
i
+x, wherex isnegativefor subcritical ow, (2.49)
h
i+1
h
i
+x
i
dh
dx
(x
i
,h
i
)
= h
i
+x
i
S
0
Q
2
/K
2
(h
i
)
1 F
2
(h
i
)
. (2.50)
This is thesimplest but least accurateof all methods yet it might beappropriatefor open channel
problemswherequantitiesmay only beknownapproximately. Onecanusesimplemodicationssuch
asHeunsmethodtogainbetter accuracy or evenmoresimply, just takesmaller stepsx.
y
exact
i+1
y
Euler
i+1
y
i
t
i+1
t
i
=
=
y
Heun
i+1
t
Figure2-15. Onestepof theHeunscheme
One step of the scheme is shown in Figure 2-15, for a sub-critical ow calculation which proceeds
inanegativex-direction. At point (x
i
, h
i
), thegradient dh/dx is calculated, andthecomputedh
Euler
i+1
accordingtoequation(2.50) isshown, just calculatingthechangeinh bytravellingalongthetangent to
thecurveat i. Intheexaggeratedgureit (curvatureof thefunctionlargeandsteplarge) it canbeseen
that themethodmaynot beveryaccurate.
Heuns
9
method: Inthis casethevalueof h
i+1
calculatedfromequation(2.50) is usedas arst
estimateh
Euler
i+1
, then thevalueof thederivativeat thepoint
x
i
, h
Euler
i+1
is calculated as shown by the

9
Karl Heun(1859-1929), Professor fr TheoretischeMechanik, THKarlsruhe, 1902-1922.
40
arrowonthegure. Then, Heunsmethodistocalculatethechangeof h over thestepx asx times
themeanof thederivativesat thepoint (x
i
, h
i
) andtheEuler point
x
i
, h
Euler
i+1
. That is,
h
i+1
h
i
+
x
i
2
dh
dx
(x
i
,h
i
)
+
dh
dx
(x
i
,h
Euler
i+1
)
!
= h
i
+
x
i
2
S
0
Q
2
/K
2
(h
i
)
1 F
2
(h
i
)
+
S
0
Q
2
/K
2
(h
Euler
i+1
)
1 F
2
(h
Euler
i+1
)
!
. (2.51)
Neither of thesetwomethodsarepresentedinhydraulicstextbooksasalternatives, yet they aresimple
and exible, and reveal thenatureof what wearedoing. Thestep x can bevaried at will, to suit
possibleirregularly spacedcross-sectional data. Inmany situations, whereF
2
1, wecanignorethe
F
2
terminthedenominators, givinganotationallysimpler scheme.
2.5.3 Approximate analytical solution
Whereas thenumerical solutions giveus numbers to analyse, sometimes very fewactual numbers are
required, suchasmerelyrequiringhowfar upstreamwater levelsareraisedtoacertainlevel, theeffect
of downstreamworks on ooding, for example. Here we introduce a different way of looking at a
physical probleminhydraulics, whereweobtainanapproximatemathematical solutionsothat wecan
provideequationswhichreveal tousmoreof thenatureof theproblemthandonumbers. Sometimesan
understanding of what isimportant ismoreuseful thannumbers.
Consider thewater surfacedepthtobewritten
h(x) = h
0
+h
1
(x), (2.52)
whereweusethesymbol h
0
for theconstant normal depth, andh
1
(x) isarelativelysmall departureof
thesurfacefromtheuniformnormal depth. Weusethegoverningdifferential equation(2.48) but we
assumethat theFroudenumber squaredissufcientlysmall that it canbeignored. Thisisnot essential,
but it makestheequationssimpler towriteandread. (Asanexample, consider atypical streamowing
at 0.5m/swithadepthof 2m, givingF
2
= 0.0125 - therearemanycaseswhereF
2
canbeneglected).
Thesimplieddifferential equationcanbewritten
dh
dx
= S
0
Q
2
K
2
(h)
,
Substitutingour series(2.52), weobtain
dh
1
dx
= S
0
Q
2
K
2
(h
0
+h
1
(x))
. (2.53)
Nowweintroducetheapproximationthat theh
1
termisrelatively small suchthat wecanwritefor the
frictiontermitsTaylor expansionabout normal ow:
K(h
0
+h
1
(x)) = K(h
0
) +h
1
(x)
dK
dh
(h
0
) +Termsproportional toh
2
1
= K(h
0
)
1 +
h
1
(x)
K(h
0
)

dK
dh
(h
0
) +. . .
and
K
2
(h
0
+h
1
(x)) = K
2
(h
0
)
1 2
h
1
(x)
K(h
0
)

dK
dh
(h
0
) +. . .
fromthebinomial theorem
Substitutingintoequation(2.53), weobtain
dh
1
dx
= S
0
Q
2
K
2
(h
0
)
+ 2Q
2
h
1
(x)
K
3
(h
0
)
dK
dh
(h
0
) = 2S
0
dK/dh
K
0
h
1
(x)
wherewehaveusedS
0
= Q
2
/K
2
(h
0
). This is anordinary differential equationwhichwecansolve
analytically. Wehaveachieved this by linearising about theuniformow. Now, by separation of
41
variableswecanobtainthesolution
h
1
= Ge
ax
, and h = h
0
+Ge
ax
, (2.54)
whereGisaconstantwhichwouldbeevaluatedbysatisfyingtheboundaryconditionatthecontrol, and
wherea isaconstant
a = 2S
0
dK/dh
K
0
. (2.55)
This shows that thewater surfaceis actually approximated by an exponential curvepassing fromthe
value of depth at the control to normal depth. In fact, as dK/dh is positive, a is positive, and far
upstreamasx , thewater surfaceapproachesnormal depth.
Nowweobtainanapproximateexpressionfor K. FromtheG-M-Sformulafor awidechannel wecan
showthat K h
5/3
, dK/dh 5/3 h
2/3
andwend
a
10
3
S
0
h
0
(2.56)
Thelarger this number, themorerapidis thedecay withx. Theformulashows that morerapiddecay
occurs with steeper slopes (large S
0
), and smaller depths (h
0
). Hence, generally the water surface
approachesnormal depthmorequicklyforsteeperandshallowerstreams, andtheeffectsof adisturbance
canextendalongwayupstreamfor mildslopesanddeeper water.
Let uscalculatethedistanceupstreamX that thedisturbancedecaysby 1/2. That is, exp(aX) =
0.5. Wend
10
3
S
0
X
h
0
= ln0.5 giving
X
h
0
=
3 ln0.5
10
1
S
0
,
and X/h
0
is the number of depths horizontally it takes for thedisturbance to decreaseby 1/2. For
S
0
= 10
4
thisnumberisabout2000, sothatforexample, if thestreamis2 mdeep, thedistanceis4 km.
For thestreamdisturbancetodecayto1/16 = (1/2)
4
of theoriginal, thisdistanceis4 4 = 16 km.
This theory has shownus somethingof thepower of obtainingapproximatesolutions whereno other
analytical solutionsexist, toprovideuswithasimpler understandingof thenatureof theproblem.
42
3. Hydrography/Hydrometry
Boiten(2000) providesarefreshinglymodernapproachtothistopic, callingit Hydrometry themea-
surement of water, whichinthepast hasreceivedlittleresearch. Thereisawebsitewithmuchinfor-
mationof arather practical natureonhttp://www.usbr.gov/pmts/hydraulics_lab/pubs/wmm/.
3.1 Water levels
Waterlevelsarethebasisforanyriverstudy. Mostkindsof measurements, suchasdischarges, havetobe
relatedtoriver stages(thestageissimplythewater surfaceheight abovesomexeddatum). Bothstage
anddischargemeasurementsareimportant. Often, however, theactual dischargeof ariver ismeasured
rarely, androutinemeasurementsarethoseof stage, whicharerelatedtodischarge.
Water levels areobtainedfromgauges, either by direct observationor inrecordedform. Thedatacan
serveseveral purposes:
By plottinggaugereadings against time, thehydrograph for aparticular stationis obtained. Hy-
drographs of aseries of years areusedto determineduration curves, showingtheprobability of
occurrenceof water levelsat thestationor fromarating curve, theprobabilityof discharges.
Combininggaugereadingswithdischargevalues, arelationshipbetweenstageanddischargecan
bedetermined, resultinginarating curve for thestation.
Apart fromuseinhydrological studiesandfor designpurposes, thedatacanbeof direct valuefor
navigation, oodprediction, water management, andwastewater disposal.
3.1.1 Methods
Mostwater level gaugingstationsareequippedwithasensor or gaugeandarecorder. Inmanycasesthe
water level ismeasuredinastillingwell, thuseliminatingstrongoscillations.
Staff gauge: Thisisthesimplest type, withagraduatedgaugeplatexedtoastablestructuresuch
asapile, bridgepier, or awall. Wheretherangeof water levelsexceedsthecapacityof asinglegauge,
additional onesmaybeplacedonthelineof thecrosssectionnormal totheplaneof ow.
Float gauge: A oat insideastillingwell, connectedtotheriver by aninlet pipe, ismovedupand
downby thewater level. Fluctuationscausedby short wavesarealmost eliminated. Themovement of
theoat istransmittedbyawirepassingover aoat wheel, whichrecordsthemotion, leadingdownto
acounterweight.
Pressure transducers: Thewater level ismeasuredasanequivalent hydrostaticpressureandtrans-
formedintoanelectrical signal via asemi-conductor sensor. Thesearebest suitedfor measuringwater
levelsinopenwater (theeffectof shortwavesdiesoutalmostcompletelywithinhalf awavelengthdown
intothewater), aswell asfor thecontinuousrecordingof groundwater levels. Theyshouldcompensate
for changesintheatmosphericpressure, andif air-ventedcablescannot beprovidedair pressureneeds
tobemeasuredseparately.
Bubble gauge: This is apressureactuatedsystem, basedonmeasurement of thepressurewhich
is neededto producebubbles throughanunderwater outlet. Theseareusedat sites whereit wouldbe
difcult to install aoat-operatedrecorder or pressuretransducer. Fromapressurisedgas cylinder or
small compressor gas is ledalongatubeto somepoint under thewater (whichwill remainso for all
water levels) andbubbles constantly owout throughtheorice. Thepressureinthemeasuringtube
correspondstothat inthewater abovetheorice. Windwavesshouldnot affect this.
Ultrasonic sensor: Theseareusedfor continuousnon-contactlevel measurementsinopenchannels.
Thesensor pointsvertically downtowardsthewater andemitsultrasonic pulsesat acertainfrequency.
43
Theinaudiblesoundwavesarereectedbythewater surfaceandreceivedbythesensor. Theroundtrip
timeismeasuredelectronicallyandappearsasanoutput signal proportional tothelevel. A temperature
probecompensatesfor variationsinthespeedof soundinair. Theyareaccuratebut susceptibletowind
waves.
Peak level indicators: Therearesomeindicatorsof themaximumlevel reachedbyaood, suchas
arraysof bottleswhichtipandll whenthewater reachesthem, or astaff coatedwithsolublepaint.
3.1.2 Presentation of results
Stagerecordstakenalongriversusedfor hydrological studies, for designof irrigationworks, or for ood
protectionrequireanaccuracyof 25 cm, whilegaugereadingsupstreamof owmeasuringweirsused
tocalculatedischargesfromthemeasuredheadsrequireanaccuracy of 2 5 mm. Thesedaysalmost
all aretelemeteredto acentral site. Thereis ahugevolumeof electronic hydrometry databeingsent
aroundVictoria.
Hydrographs, ratingtables, andstagerelationcurvesaretypical presentationsof water level data:
Hydrograph whenstagerecordsor thedischargesareplottedagainst time.
Ratingtable atmanygaugingstationswater levelsaremeasureddailyor hourly, whiledischarges
aremeasuredsometimesayear, usingdirect methodssuchasapropeller meter. Fromthecorre-
spondingwater levelsfromthese, andpossiblyfor othersover years, astage-dischargerelationship
canbebuilt up, sothat theroutinemeasurement of stagecanbeconvertedtodischarge. Wewill be
consideringtheseindetail.
Stage relation curves fromthe hydrographs of two or more gauging stations along the river,
relationships can beformulated between thesteady owstages. Thesecan beused to calculate
thesurfaceslopebetweentwogauges, andhence, todeterminetheroughnessof thereach. Under
unsteadyconditionstherelationshipwill bedisturbed. Wewill alsobeconsideringthislater.
3.2 Discharge
Flowmeasurement mayserveseveral purposes:
information on river owfor thedesign and operation of diversion dams and reservoirs and for
bilateral agreementsbetweenstatesandcountries.
distributionandchargingof irrigationwater
informationfor chargingindustriesandtreatment plantsdischargingintopublicwaters
water management inurbanandrural areas
reliablestatisticsfor long-termmonitoring.
Continuous(dailyor hourly) measurementsareveryuseful.
Therearemany methods of measuringtherateof volumeowpast apoint, of whichsomearesingle
measurement methods whicharenot designedfor routineoperation; therest aremethods of continuous
measurements.
3.2.1 Velocity area method (current meter method)
Theareaof cross-section is determined fromsoundings, and owvelocities aremeasured using pro-
peller current meters, electromagneticsensors, or oats. Themeanowvelocityisdeducedfrompoints
distributed systematically over theriver cross-section. In fact, what this usually means is that two or
morevelocity measurements aremadeon each of anumber of vertical lines, and any oneof several
empirical expressionsusedtocalculatethemeanvelocityoneachvertical, thelot thenbeingintegrated
acrossthechannel.
44
Figure3-1. Traditional manner of takingcurrent meter readings. Indeeper water aboat isused.
Calculatingthedischargerequiresintegratingthevelocitydataover thewholechannel - whatisrequired
is theareaintegral of thevelocity, that is Q =
R
u dA. If weexpress this as adoubleintegral wecan
write
Q =
Z
B
Z(y)+h(y)
Z
Z(y)
udz dy, (3.1)
sothat weintegratethevelocityfromthebedz = 0 tothesurfacez = h(y), whereh isthelocal depth
andwhereour z is alocal co-ordinate. Thenwehaveto integratethesecontributions right across the
channel, for valuesof thetransverseco-ordinatez over thebreadthB.
Calculation of mean velocity in the vertical
Therst stepistocomputetheintegral of velocity withdepth, whichhydrographersthink of ascalcu-
lating themean velocity over thedepth. Convention in hydrography is that themean velocity over a
vertical canbeapproximatedby
u =
1
2
(u
0.2h
+u
0.8h
) , (3.2)
that is, themeanof thereadingsat 0.2of thedepthand0.8of thedepth. Fenton(2002) hasdeveloped
somefamiliesof methods. For anytwopointsof depthh
1
andh
2
inwater of depthh theformulacanbe
obtained:
u =
u
1
(ln(1 h
2
/h)+1) u
2
(ln(1 h
1
/h)+1)
ln((h h
2
) / (h h
1
))
. (3.3)
This expressiongives thefreedomto takethevelocity readings at any two points, andnot necessarily
at points suchas 0.2h and0.8h. This might simplify streamgaugingoperations, for it means that the
hydrographer, after measuringthedepthh, does not havetocalculatethevalues of 0.2h and0.8h and
thenset themeter at thosepoints. Instead, themeter canbeset at any two points, withinreason, the
depthandthevelocity simply recordedfor each, andequation(3.3) applied. Thiscouldbedoneeither
in situ or later whentheresults arebeingprocessed. This has thepotential to speeduphydrographic
measurements.
If thehydrographer wereto usethetraditional two points, then settingh
1
= 0.2h and h
2
= 0.8h in
equation(3.3) givestheresult
u = 0.4396 u
0.2h
+ 0.5604 u
0.8h
0.44u
0.2h
+ 0.56u
0.8h
, (3.4)
whereastheconventional hydrographicexpressionis(seee.g. #7.1.5.3of AustralianStandard3778.3.1
45
2001):
u = 0.5 u
0.2h
+ 0.5 u
0.8h
. (3.5)
Thenominally moreaccurateexpression, equation (3.4), gives less weight to theupper measurement
andmoretothelower. Itmight beuseful, asit isjust assimpleasthetraditional expression, yet isbased
onanexact analytical integrationof theequationfor aturbulent boundarylayer.
Integration of the mean velocities across the channel:
Theproblemnowis tointegratethereadings for meanvelocity at eachstationacross thewidthof the
channel. Heretraditional practiceseemstobeinerror oftentheMean-Section methodisused. Inthis
themeanvelocity betweentwoverticalsiscalculatedandthenmultiplythisbytheareabetweenthem,
sothat, giventwoverticalsi andi +1 separatedbyb
i
theexpressionfor thecontributiontodischargeis
assumedtobe
Q
i
=
1
4
b
i
(h
i
+h
i+1
) (u
i
+u
i+1
) .
Thisisnot correct. Fromequation(3.1), thetask isactuallytointegrateacrossthechannel thequantity
whichisthemeanvelocitytimesthedepth. For that thesimplest expressionistheTrapezoidal rule:
Q
i
=
1
2
b
i
(u
i+1
h
i+1
+u
i
h
i
)
ToexaminewheretheMean-SectionMethodisworst, weconsider thecaseat onesideof thechannel,
wheretheareaisatriangle. Welet thewatersedgebei = 0 andtherst internal point bei = 1, then
theMean-SectionMethodgives
Q
0
=
1
4
b
0
u
1
h
1
,
whiletheTrapezoidal rulegives
Q
0
=
1
2
b
0
u
1
h
1
,
whichiscorrect, andweseethattheMean-SectionMethodcomputesonlyhalf of theactual contribution.
Thesamehappensat theother side. Contributionsat theseedgesarenot large, andinthemiddleof the
channel theformulais not so much in error, but in principletheMean-Section Method is wrong and
shouldnot beused. Rather, theTrapezoidal ruleshouldbeused, whichisjust aseasilyimplemented. In
agauginginwhichthelecturer participated, aowof 1693Ml/dwascalculatedusingtheMean-Section
Method. UsingtheTrapezoidal rule, theowcalculatedwas1721Ml/d, adifferenceof 1.6%. Although
thedifferencewasnot great, practitionersshouldbediscouragedfromusingaformulawhichiswrong.
3.2.2 Dilution methods
Inchannelswherecross-sectional areasaredifculttodetermine(e.g. steepmountainstreams) or where
owvelocities aretoo highto bemeasuredby current meters dilution or tracer methods canbeused,
wherecontinuity of the tracer material is used with steady ow. Therate of input of tracer is mea-
sured, anddownstream, after total mixing, theconcentrationismeasured. Thedischargeinthestream
immediatelyfollows.
3.2.3 Integrating oat methods
Thereis another rather charmingand wonderful method which has been very littleexploited. At the
moment it has thestatus of a singlemeasurement method, however thelecturer can foreseeit being
developed as a continuing method. A single buoyant particle (a oat, an orange, an air bubble), is
releasedfromapoint onthebed. Weassumethat it hasaconstant risevelocity w. Asit risesit passes
through a variable horizontal velocity eld u(z), where z is the vertical co-ordinate, and effectively
integratesthevelocityeld. Bymeasuringhowfar downstreamit reachesthesurface, anaccuratevalue
for theintegral of velocitycouldbeobtained. Thishasnot yet beenimplementedpractically.
46
Figure3-2. Arrayof four ultrasonicbeamsinachannel
Signal probes
Coil for producingmagneticeld
Figure3-3. Electromagneticinstallation, showingcoil andsignal probes
3.2.4 Ultrasonic ow measurement
ThisisamethodusedintheirrigationindustryinAustralia, but isalsobeingusedinriversintheUSA.
Consider the situation shown in the gure, where some three or four beams of ultrasonic sound are
propagateddiagonally across astreamat different levels. Thetimeof travel of soundinonedirection
ismeasured, asisthetimeintheother. Thedifferencecanbeusedtocomputethemeanvelocityalong
that path, i.e. at that level. Thesevaluesthenhavetobeintegratedinthevertical.
3.2.5 Acoustic-Doppler Current Proling (ADCP) methods
Inthese, abeamof soundof aknownfrequency istransmittedintotheuid, oftenfromaboat. When
thesoundstrikesmovingparticlesor regionsof densitydifferencemovingat acertainspeed, thesound
is reected back and received by asensor mounted besidethetransmitter. According to theDoppler
effect, thedifferenceinfrequency betweenthetransmittedandreceivedwavesisadirect measurement
of velocity. In practicetherearemany particles in theuid and thegreater theareaof ow moving
at aparticular velocity, thegreater thenumber of reections withthat frequency shift. Potentially this
method is very accurate, as it purports to beableto obtain thevelocity over quitesmall regions and
integratethemup. However, this method does not measurein thetop 15%of thedepth or near the
boundaries, andtheassumptionthat it ispossibletoextract detailedvelocity proledatafromasignal
seemstobeoptimistic. Thelecturer remainsunconvincedthat thismethodisasaccurateasisclaimed.
3.2.6 Electromagnetic methods
Themotionof water owinginanopenchannel cutsavertical magneticeldwhichisgeneratedusing
alargecoil buriedbeneaththeriver bed, throughwhichanelectric current isdriven. Anelectromotive
forceisinducedinthewater andmeasuredbysignal probesat eachsideof thechannel. Thisverysmall
voltageisdirectly proportional totheaveragevelocity of owinthecross-section. Thisisparticularly
suitedtomeasurement of efuent, water intreatment works, andinpower stations, wherethechannel
is rectangular and made of concrete; as well as in situations where there is much weed growth, or
highsediment concentrations, unstablebedconditions, backwater effects, or reverseow. Thishasthe
47
advantagethat it is an integrating method, however in theend recoursehas to bemadeto empirical
relationshipsbetweenthemeasuredelectrical quantitiesandtheow.
3.2.7 Flow measuring structures
Theseareoftenboundupwithcontrol andregulatory functions, aswell asmeasurement. They will be
describedbelow.
3.3 Theanalysisanduseof stageanddischargemeasurements
3.3.1 Stage discharge method
Almost universallytheroutinemeasurement of thestateof ariver isthat of thestage, thesurfaceeleva-
tionatagaugingstation, usuallyspeciedrelativetoanarbitrarylocal datum. Whilesurfaceelevationis
animportantquantityindeterminingthedanger of ooding, anotherimportantquantityistheactual ow
ratepast thegaugingstation. Accurateknowledgeof thisinstantaneousdischarge- anditstimeintegral,
thetotal volumeof owis crucial to many hydrologic investigations andto practical operations of a
river anditschief environmental andcommercial resource, itswater. Examplesincludedecisionsonthe
allocationof water resources, thedesignof reservoirsandtheir associatedspillways, thecalibrationof
models, andtheinteractionwithother computational componentsof anetwork.
Discharge
Stage
Figure3-4. Ratingcurve(stage-dischargediagram) anddatapointstowhichit istted
Thetraditional way inwhichvolumeowisinferredisfor aratingcurvetobederivedfor aparticular
gauging station, which is arelationship between thestagemeasured and theactual owpassing that
point. The measurement of ow is done at convenient times by traditional hydrologic means, with
acurrent meter measuring theow velocity at enough points over theriver cross section so that the
volumeof owcan beobtained for that particular stage, measured at thesametime. By taking such
measurements for anumber of different stages andcorrespondingdischarges over aperiodof time, a
number of pointscanbeplottedonastage-dischargediagram, andacurvedrawnthroughthosepoints,
givingwhat ishopedtobeauniquerelationshipbetweenstageandow, theratingcurve, asshownin
Figure3-4. Thisis thenusedinthefuturesothat whenstageisroutinely measured, it isassumedthat
thecorrespondingdischargecanbeobtainedfromthat curve, for aparticular valueof stage.
Thereareseveral problemsassociatedwiththeuseof aRatingCurve:
Theassumptionof auniquerelationshipbetweenstageanddischargemaynot bejustied.
Dischargeis rarely measured during aood, and thequality of dataat thehigh owend of the
curvemight bequitepoor.
Itisusuallysomesortof lineof besttthroughasamplemadeupof anumberof points- sometimes
48
Q
falling
Q
rated
Qrising
Discharge
Stage
A measuredstagevalue
Steadyowratingcurve
Actual oodevent
Figure3-5. Stage-dischargediagramshowingthesteady-owratingcurveandanexaggeratedloopedtrajectoryof
aparticular oodevent
extrapolatedfor higher stages.
It has to describearangeof variationfromno owthroughsmall but typical ows to very large
extremeoodevents.
Thereareanumber of factorswhichmight causetheratingcurvenot togivetheactual discharge,
someof whichwill varywithtime. Factorsaffectingtheratingcurveinclude:
Thechannel changingasaresult of modicationduetodredging, bridgeconstruction, or vege-
tationgrowth.
Sediment transport - wherethebedis inmotion, whichcanhaveaneffect over asingleood
event, becausetheeffectivebedroughness canchangeduringtheevent. As aoodincreases,
any bedformspresent will tendtobecomelarger andincreasetheeffectiveroughness, sothat
friction is greater after theood peak than before, so that thecorresponding dischargefor a
givenstageheight will beless after thepeak. This will contributeto aoodevent showinga
loopedcurveonastage-dischargediagramasisshownonFigure3-5.
Backwater effects- changesintheconditionsdownstreamsuchastheconstructionof adamor
oodinginthenext waterway.
Unsteadiness - in general the discharge will changerapidly during aood, and theslopeof
the water surfacewill bedifferent fromthat for a constant stage, depending on whether the
dischargeisincreasingor decreasing, alsocontributingtoaoodevent appearingasaloopon
astage-dischargediagramsuchasFigure3-5.
Variablechannel storage- wherethestreamoverowsontooodplainsduringhighdischarges,
givingrisetodifferent slopesandtounsteadinesseffects.
Vegetation- changingtheroughnessandhencechangingthestage-dischargerelation.
Ice- whichwecanignore thisisAustralia, after all.
A typical set-upof agaugingstationwherethewater level isregularlymeasuredisgiveninFigure3-6
which shows alongitudinal section of astream. Downstreamof thegauging station is usually some
sort of xedcontrol whichmay besomelocal topography suchas arock ledgewhichmeans that for
relativelysmall owsthereisarelationshipbetweentheheadover thecontrol andthedischargewhich
passes. This will control theowfor small ows. For larger ows theeffect of thexedcontrol is to
drownout, tobecomeunimportant, andfor someother part of thestreamtocontrol theow, suchas
49
Highow
Lowow
Local
control
Distant
control
Channel control
Gauging
station
Channel control
Flood
1
3
2
4
5
Larger body
of water
Figure3-6. Section of river showing different controls at different water levels with implications for thestage
dischargerelationshipat thegaugingstationshown
thelarger river downstreamshownasadistant control inthegure, or even, if thedownstreamchannel
length is long enough before encountering another local control, the section of channel downstream
will itself becomethecontrol, wherethecontrol is duetofrictioninthechannel, givingarelationship
between the slopein the channel, the channel geometry and roughness and the ow. There may be
morecontrolstoo, but however manythereare, if thechannel werestable, andtheowsteady(i.e. not
changing with timeanywherein thesystem) therewould beauniquerelationship between stageand
discharge, however complicated this might bedueto various controls. In practice, thenatures of the
controlsareusuallyunknown.
Somethingwhichtheconcept of aratingcurveoverlooksistheeffect of unsteadiness, or variationwith
time. Inaoodevent thedischargewill changewithtimeas theoodwavepasses, andtheslopeof
thewater surfacewill bedifferent fromthat for aconstant stage, dependingonwhether thedischargeis
increasingor decreasing. Figure3-6showstheincreasedsurfaceslopeasaoodapproachesthegauging
station. Theeffects of this areshownonFigure3-5, insomewhat exaggeratedform, whereanactual
oodevent may not followtheratingcurvebut will ingeneral followtheloopedtrajectory shown. As
theoodincreases, thesurfaceslopeintheriver is greater thantheslopefor steady owat thesame
stage, and hence, according to conventional simplehydraulic theory explained below, more water is
owing down theriver than therating curvewould suggest. This is shown by thedischargemarked
Q
rising
obtainedfromthehorizontal linedrawnfor aparticular valueof stage. Whenthewater level is
fallingtheslopeandhencethedischargeinferredisless.
Theeffectsof thismight beimportant - thepeakdischargecouldbesignicantlyunderestimatedduring
highly dynamic oods, and also sincethemaximumdischargeand maximumstagedo not coincide,
thearrival timeof thepeak dischargecould bein error and may inuenceood warning predictions.
Similarly water-quality constituent loads couldbeunderestimatedif thedynamic characteristics of the
oodareignored, whiletheuseof adischargehydrographderivedinaccuratelybyusingasingle-valued
ratingrelationshipmaydistortestimatesforresistancecoefcientsduringcalibrationof anunsteadyow
model.
4. Hydraulicstructures
4.1 Introduction
Hydraulic structures are anything that can be used to divert, restrict, stop, or otherwise manage the
natural owof water. Theycanbemadefrommaterialsrangingfromlargerockandconcretetoobscure
itemssuchaswoodentimbersor treetrunks.
A dam, for instance, isatypeof hydraulicstructureusedtoholdwater inareservoir aspotential energy,
just as aweir is atypeof hydraulic structurewhichcanbeusedto pool water for irrigation, establish
50
control of thebed(gradecontrol) or, as anewinnovativetechnique, to divert owaway fromeroding
banksor intodiversionchannelsfor oodcontrol.
ThemaintextstowhichreferencecanbemadeareAckers, White, Perkins& Harrison(1978), French
(1985), Henderson(1966), Novak(2001). Another useful scholarlyreferenceisthat byJ aeger (1956).
4.2 Overshot gate- thesharp-crestedweir
Assumedpressuredistribution
Actual pressuredistribution
h
H
P
D
C
Figure4-1. Sideviewof sharp-crestedweir
Theconventional analysis of ow over asharp-crested weir is oneof thegreat misleading results in
Hydraulic Engineering, whichis widely knownto beso, yet every textbook reproduces it. Insteadof
theactual pressuredistributionshowndottedinFigure4-1, ahydrostaticdistributionisassumed(giving
maximumpressureat thecrest, whereasit isactuallyzerothere), thenBernoullislawapplied, andthen
itisassumedthattheuidvelocityishorizontal only(whereasitisactuallyvertical atthecrest). Results
obtainedfor thehorizontal velocity distributionbothfromthat simpletheory andfromsomeaccurate
numerical computations are shown in Figure 4-2. It can be seen how necessary it is to introduce a
coefcient of dischargewhichhasavalueof 0.6 0.7 tomakethetheorywork.
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
z/h
u/
gh
Accuratecomputations
Classical theory
Figure4-2. Horizontal velocitydistributionover crest - simpletheoryandaccuratecomputations
A much more correct way to proceed is to use dimensional analysis rstly to consider a weir of
innitelengthandinwater of innitedepth. Theheadover theweir isH, gravitational accelerationis
g, thedischargeis q per unit length. Wehavethreequantities, two dimensions (L and T), and so by
theBuckingham theorem, wehaveonlyasinglequantityaffectingresults, whichmust thereforebea
51
constant. Collectingthetermsintheonlypossibledimensionlesscombination, wehave
q
p
gH
3
= C = constant,
henceweobtainthewell-known3/2 law:
q = C
gH
3/2
.
If wenowconsider anitewidthof channel B, nitewidthof weir b, andaniteapronheight P, with
nowatotal dischargeQ weobtain
Q
b
p
gH
3
= f(b/B, H/P, b/P).
A formulawiththeactual widthandhead, whichisaccurateenough, canbewrittenapproximatelyas
Q = 0.6
gb (
u
z
c
)
3/2
where
u
istheupstreamsurfaceelevationandz
c
istheelevationof thecrest.
4.3 Triangular weir
Ananalysis as misguidedas thetraditional oneproduces theresult quotedby French(1985) onp352,
wheresomeresultsof Bos(1978) arequoted. Theexpressionis
Q = C
8
15
p
2g tan

2
H
2.5
,
whereC is thecoefcient of discharge, andwhere is theanglebetweenthesides of thetriangle. A
typical result fromFrench(1985) is that C is roughly 0.58, whichhas beenfoundto agreewell with
experiment (seeLenz 1943). Weprefer towritetheexpressionas
Q = 0.44 tan

2
gH
2.5
,
suggestingthat it isempirical.
4.4 Broad-crestedweirs critical owasacontrol
1 2
c
Figure4-3. Humpinchannel oor sufcientlyhightobringowtocritical
Inthiscasetheory israther moreapplicable. Consider nowthecasewhereastepinachannel oor
ishighenoughthat theowisbrought tocritical there, d
2
= d
c
, asshowninFigure4-3. For thegiven
discharge, theEnergy-Depthdiagramshowedthat critical depth is the smallest depth of ow possible
over the raised bed. If thestepwereraisedevenmore, thenthedepthof owover theraisedbedwould
remainconstant at d
c
andtheupstreamdepthwouldhaveto increaseso as to maketheowpossible.
Thestepisthenactingasaweir, controllingtheow.
52
c
h
c
h
c
h
Figure4-4. Spillwayasbroad-crestedweir
Consider thesituationwherethebedfallsaway after thehorizontal section, suchasonaspillway. The
owupstreamis subcritical, but theowdownstreamis fast (supercritical). Somewherebetween the
two, theowdepthmust becomecritical - theowreachesitscritical depthat somepoint ontopof the
weir, andtheweir providesacontrol for theow. Inthiscase, thetotal headupstream(theheight of the
upstreamwater surfaceabovethesill) uniquelydeterminesthedischarge, anditisenoughtomeasurethe
upstreamsurfaceelevationwheretheowisslowandthekineticpart of theheadnegligibletoprovide
apoint onauniquerelationshipbetweenthat headover theweir andthedischarge. No other surface
elevation need bemeasured. Such ahorizontal owcontrol is called abroad-crested weir. In recent
yearstherehasbeenawidespreaddevelopmentof broad-crestedweirsplacedincanalswheretheowis
subcritical bothbeforeandafter theweir, butpassesthroughcritical ontheweir. Thereisasmall energy
loss after theume. Theadvantageis that it is only necessary to measuretheupstreamheadover the
weir.Wecanapplysimplytheoryof critical owstogivethedischargeper unit widthq:
Small energy loss
c
h
c
h
c
h
Figure4-5. Broad-crestedweir inacanal showingsubstantial recoveryof energy
q =
p
gd
3
c
=
q
g
2
3
H
3
=
q
8
27
gH
3/2
where
H = d
1
+
U
2
1
2g
= d
1
+
Q
2
2gA
2
1
,
theheadupstream. As A
1
, theupstreamarea, is afunctionof d
1
, therelationshipfor dischargeis not
simplya3/2 power law, butfor sufcientlylowupstreamFroudenumber thedeviationwill notbelarge.
Inpracticethedischargefor theweir as awholeis written, introducingvarious dischargecoefcients
Montes(1998, p250),
Q = 0.54C
s
C
e
C
v
b
gd
3/2
1
.
53
4.5 Freeoverfall
h
b
hc
Figure4-6. Freeoverfall, showinglocationof critical depthh
c
andbrinkdepthh
b
Consider thefreeoverfall shown in Figure4-6. It can beshown that thedischargeper unit width is
q = 1.65
gz
3/2
b
.
4.6 Sluicegateor undershot gate
h
u
h
d
Figure4-7. Sluicegatefor tutorial example
Nowweconsider thecasewherethegateisnot drowned, but astreamof supercritical owcanexist for
somedistancedownstream. Applyingtheenergytheorembetweenapoint at sectionu andoneat d:
gd
u
+
1
2
q
d
u
2
= gd
d
+
1
2
q
d
d
2
.
Solvingfor q weobtain:
q =

2gd
u
d
d
d
u
+d
d
,
whichit iseasier towriteindimensionlessform:
q
p
2gd
3
u
=
d
d
/d
u
p
1 +d
d
/d
u
. (4.1)
Inpracticeweknowtheupstreamdepthd
u
andthegateopeningd, suchthat
d
d
= C
c
d,
whereC
c
isthecoefcient of contraction. A number of theoretical andexperimental studieshavebeen
madeof this, but thevariationis not large. Henderson(1966, p205) shows someof thesebut ends up
recommendingaconstant valueof 0.61.
Equation(4.1) isaconvenientwayof representation, asd
u
isgiven, andsowendthatthedimensionless
dischargeissimplyafunctionof d
d
/d
u
, thedepthratio, or d/d
u
. Infact, thevariationisrather linear
if weexpandthedenominator of theright sideof equation(4.1) usingthebinomial theorem, weobtain
q
p
2gd
3
u
=
d
d
/d
u
p
1 +d
d
/d
u
=
d
d
d
u
1
1
2
d
d
d
u
+. . .
,
54
andwendthat torst order, for small gateopenings,
q
p
2gd
u
d
d
,
andtheresult isalmost obvious, that thedischargeper unit widthisgivenby avelocity corresponding
tothefull upstreamheadof water multipliedbythedownstreamdepthof ow.
4.7 Drownedsluicegate
6
?
h
u
6
?
D
6
?
h
0
?
h
c
6
?
h
d
Figure4-8. Sideviewof water owingunder adrownedsluicegate
Consider Figure4-8. In this casetheanalysis follows that suggested on p208 in Henderson (1966).
Applyingtheenergytheorembetweenapoint at sectionu andoneat c:
gd
u
+
1
2
q
d
u
2
= gd
0
+
1
2
q
d
c
2
, (4.2)
wherewerecognisethat thepressurecontributionisgivenby thehydrostatic forceof depthd
0
but that
thevelocitycontributionisduetoowinthejet only. Solvingfor q weobtain:
q =
p
2gd
u
d
c
s
d
u
d
0
d
2
u
d
2
c
. (4.3)
Andnowweapplythemomentumtheorembetweensectionsc andd:
q
2
d
c
+
1
2
gd
2
0
=
q
2
d
d
+
1
2
gd
2
d
. (4.4)
Againsolvingfor q weobtain
q =
r
g
2
s
d
c
d
d
d
d
d
c
d
2
d
d
2
0
. (4.5)
Nowif weeliminateq betweenthetwoequations(4.3) and(4.5) weobtainthequadraticind
0
:
d
2
0
+ 4
d
2
u
d
c
d
d
d
d
d
c
d
2
u
d
2
c
(d
u
d
0
) d
2
d
= 0, (4.6)
55
andif weintroducethedepthscaled
1
denedby
d
1
= d
c
1 d
c
/d
d
1 (d
c
/d
u
)
2
, (4.7)
equation(4.6) becomes
d
2
0
+ 4d
1
(d
u
d
0
) d
2
d
= 0,
andthesolutionis:
d
0
= 2d
1
+
q
4d
2
1
4d
u
d
1
+d
2
d
. (4.8)
Inpracticeweknowtheupstreamanddownstreamdepthsd
u
andd
d
aspart of thecomputations. If the
gateopeningisd, alsopresumedtobeknown, then
d
c
= C
c
D,
whereC
c
isthecoefcient of contractionwhichwemay assumetobe0.6. Hencewecancalculated
1
from(4.7), d
0
from(4.8), andthedischargeper unit widthfrom(4.3) or (4.5).
56

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February8, 2008

h isthedepth of thecentroidof thesectionbelow the surface. Notethat thetransverseposition

Depth to centroid of hatched area: / 2

, likeAandP, isafunctionof depthandaslowly-varyingfunctionof ow(Reynolds

. Thebest solutionistousetheexplicit approximationproducedbyHaaland:

Figure2-3. Element of channel showingdimensionsandshear forces

= 0 (suchthat K ), suchthat thereis nounderlyingbaseow, andwecanalso neglect terms

Thequantity dP/dh iseasily showntobe2

5 4.5. Thismeansthat therelativecontributionduetothe

is calculated as shown by the

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