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Hydraulics in Civil and Environmental

Engineering

Book January 2013

DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9429(2000)126:9(724)

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 Book Review
HYDRAULICS IN CIVIL AND
By Andrew Chadwick and John Morfett
E & FN Spon, New York; 1998; 628 pages; 3rd Ed.; $38.00
This book presents descriptions and analyses of, as well as
designs for, liquid (principally water) characteristics and be-
havior relevant to civil and environmental engineers. It is in
its third edition, the previous editions appearing in 1986 (of
lesser computational modeling and environmental focuses) and
1993. The third edition contains much of the material, revised
and updated, from the previous editions, along with an addi-
tional new chapter on computational hydraulics, this chapter
absorbing and extending sections of chapters in previous edi-
tions. The chapters on wave theory and coastal engineering in
previous editions have, in particular, been updated for the pres-
ent edition.
Introductory notes, discussing the books topics, the nature
of fluids, and units of analysis as well as providing a short
history of hydraulics, nicely preface the book. An overview of
the foundations of present day understanding, such as given
in the history section, is always of value. Indeed, the authors
discuss how the work of Prandtl at the beginning of the 20th
Century effectively fused together the two disparate schools
of thought of that timemathematical and experimental ap-
proaches to describing fluid flows. At the start of the 21st
century, we appear still to be of more-or-less the same mindset;
we seek similar steps forward in understanding and describing
the basic experimentally confirmable physics of flows, and to
realize the rapidly increasing potential of computational anal-
yses to simulate observed behaviors of fluid-transported sedi-
ments, contaminants, etc.
The book comprises two principal parts: a more fundamen-
tal first part, Principles and Basic Applications, and a more
applied second part, Aspects of Hydraulic Engineering. The
first part of the book is composed of 11 sections on hydro-
statics, principles of fluid flow, behavior of real fluids, flow in
pipes and closed conduits, open-channel flow, pressure surges
in pipelines, hydraulic machines, wave theory, sediment trans-
port, flood hydrology, and dimensional analysis and physical
modeling. The second part comprises six sections on pipeline
systems, hydraulic structures, computational hydraulics, river
and canal engineering, coastal engineering, and water quality
modeling. Perhaps the second part is more appropriately
thought of as advanced aspects of hydraulic engineering, since
a good deal of the material in the first part, basic applications,
also constitutes aspects of hydraulic engineering practicefor
example, flood routing, pressure surges in pipelines, etc.
In a sort of postscript, the book closes with a brief philo-
sophical discussion of what constitutes good hydraulic engi-
neering. This discussion provides a timely reminder to the
reader that good engineering is an art, nurtured by experience,
and not simply a clinical application of technical concepts and
principles. For example, the book briefly but usefully touches
on the complexities often attendant to such actual hydraulics-
engineering problems as the situation illustrated in Fig. 1.
There are a reasonable number of worked examples that aid
the reader in understanding and applying the presented mate-
rial. A set of problems for solution is also provided at the rear
of the book. To aid those adopting this book for lecture
courses, a separate manual for solutions of those problems is
available free upon request to lecturers. A limitation of the
problems is that they apply only to the first, more fundamental,
724 / JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING / SEPTEMBER 2000
ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
part of the books two parts. An enhancement to any subse-
quent edition of the book would be to provide additional prob-
lems and solutions for the books entire range of material. The
provision of problems covering the material in the second part
of the book is clearly important to achieve the authors aim of
helping the reader gain confidence in applying the presented
material to typical engineering problems. With regard to this
aim, the number of worked examples in the book may appear
to be somewhat limited to readers not possessing the accom-
panying solutions manual.
In essence, the book is particularly noteworthy for providing
a comprehensive coverage of the breadth of fields encom-
passed by civil engineering hydraulics, including an introduc-
tion to the principles of environmentally sound engineering
practice. The authors are to be highly commended for this
work. It is refreshing to find in one book the range of hydrau-
lics applications that are presented in this book, including, for
example, the more traditional topics, along with sediment
transport, flood hydrology, hydraulic structures, river engi-
neering, coastal engineering, and water quality modeling. The
breadth of material has meant that the coverage of some topics
is necessarily limited, but such limitations are generally very
well compensated for by the comprehensive references and
further reading lists provided.
Recognizing that areas of hydraulics are currently seeing
sustained and often dramatic advances, readers, however,
would also benefit from, and could be inspired by, additional
discussions in the book of several further areas of hydraulics
that are currently experiencing these advances. For example,
readers could be introduced to the field of hydroinformatics,
what it encompasses, and its relevance to the world of the
engineer. With regard to computational (river) modeling, the
use of fully two-dimensional or three-dimensional models
could be discussed perhaps briefly, and the value and present
limitations of such models could be briefly illustrated by ex-
amples. Given the escalating value of the World Wide Web as
a source of information, to students and to professionals, it is
also worth providing references to appropriate websites for
each section of the book.
In terms of a reference text, the material presented in the
book essentially fulfills the authors aims of covering the hy-
draulics required for an undergraduate course and providing
good, basic material for hydraulics graduate courses and pro-
fessional practice reference. To this reviewer, however, ground
water is an aspect of hydraulics that should, for the sake of
FIG. 1. Example of Sediment Transport as Design Issue for
Civil and Environmental Engineers; Aided by Ongoing Riverbed
Sediment Mining, Flow Regime along This Steep River in Taiwan
Has Resulted in Lowering of Bed by As Much As 10 m at Bridge
Site
completeness, be incorporated into future editions, including
discussions of water characteristics and quality and well hy-
draulics and design. In terms of the water quality component
of the book, the student reader would also benefit greatly from
the insight provided by discussions, examples, and problems
relating to simple analytical solutions to contaminant advec-
tion and diffusion, for both instantaneous and continuous con-
tamination addition at a point. Additional material that could
strengthen the present edition includes discussions of the de-
termination of turbulent velocity characteristics from measured
velocity profiles, streamflow rating curves, scour analysis, and
mitigation downstream of energy dissipators, reservoir design
(including capacity, sedimentation, etc.), and hydraulic aspects
of design for the management of water quality (including treat-
ment plants, detention basins, wetlands, etc.). It would also be
helpful for the range of local head loss coefficients for flow
in pipes and closed conduits to be expanded, and for the stan-
dard U.S. Bureau of Reclamation stilling basin designs to be
illustrated. In making these observations of possible additional
topics of a relatively minor nature, it is nevertheless realized
that there are realistic limitations on how much material can
be included in the book while keeping it of finite size and
accessible to as large an audience as possible.
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In summary, this is a well-compiled, well-presented book.
Its content is comprehensive, logically developed, usefully il-
lustrated, and very readable. The reader can be confident of
the quantity and quality of the material covered in the book.
The book has stood the test of time, and its content has been
continually revised to cover developing trends in hydraulics.
Moreover, this edition of the book and the previous editions
have all been extensively reviewed by eminent engineers prior
to publication. To find such a range of hydraulics applications
presented together as in this book is refreshing. The book is
certainly well suited to cover the spectrum of hydraulics ma-
terial for civil and environmental engineering courses, and to
cover basic material for professional practice reference. The
book is well priced to make it accessible to the complete range
of potential readers. The authors are to be commended again
for this valuable compilation describing hydraulics in civil and
environmental engineering.
Stephen Coleman
Department of Civil and Resource Engineering
The University of Auckland
Auckland, New Zealand
JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING / SEPTEMBER 2000 / 725