Hydraulics Laboratory

Experiment Report

Name: Ahmed Essam Mansour

Section: "1", Monday 2-5 pm

Title: Flow in open channel

Date: 13 –November-2006
Objectives:
• Calculate the Chezy and Manning coefficients for a flow in an
open channel.

Theory:
The water flow in an open channel is controlled by many parameters; the
slope of the channel, the cross sectional area of the flow, the contact
surface between the water and the channel and finally on the channel
properties and resistance to flow which is of our interest in this
experiment.
When water flows in a cannel, it is faced up with resistance due to
friction, this resistance is counter acted by the weight component in the
direction of flow. A uniform flow will be developed when the resisting
force is balanced with the driving gravity force.

The study of the resisting force and determination of its parameter for a
specified channel is of major interest in order to obtain a full knowledge
of the flow properties.
So many coefficients for this purpose were developed to describe the
resisting effect in the channel.
Referring back to the figure above, the forces acting on the control
volume ABCD are:
1. Forces due to static pressure acting at the ends.

2. Weight component in the direction of flow.

3. Resisting force exerted by bottoms and sides.

Applying the equilibrium equations we get;

But;

From ( ) and ( ), we can express the velocity of flow as follows;

The coefficient √ (8g/f) is symbolized by "C" and is called Chezy

Coefficient. (30 < C < 120)
And the flow rate can be expressed as;
The Chezy coefficient is dependent on both the depth of flow and the
properties of the channel and that makes it difficult for use as these two
parameters have to be known to evaluate the value of C.
Another coefficient is the Manning Coefficient "n"( n > 1) is used and is
independent of the flow depth, so each channel can have only on manning
Coefficient what ever the depth or other flow properties were.
The flow rate in terms of Manning coefficient;

The manning Coefficient and the Chezy coefficient can be related by the
following formula;

In our experiment we calculated the flow rate of an open channel flow of

known slope and geometry and it is required to find the coefficients of
both Manning and Chezy using equations ( ) and ( ).
Manning equation is to be determined from the Chezy coefficient from
equation ( ), by plotting log C vs. log R;
Apparatus:
An open channel with controlled slope and following specifications:
• Length "L" = 10 m
• Width "B" = 30 cm

A pump to provide the channel with water, and control device connected
to control the flow rate which is determined by using the digital screen.

And calipers to measure the flow depth.

Procedures:
• The channel slope was controlled to be 1/500.
• The caliper was set to zero at the channel bottom.
• The pump was turned on to allow flow in the channel.
• Several reading for the flow rate and the channel depth were taken.
Conclusions:
• The obtained coefficient of both Manning and Chezy were within
the limits specified in the discussion; (n < 1) and (30 < C < 120)
• The values of the Chezy coefficient showed a large variation with
changing the flow depth when compared to the Manning
coefficient; which makes us conclude that the Manning coefficient
is independent on the depth of the channel and is only dependent
on the propertied of the materials of the channel while Chezy
coefficient depend on both the depth of flow and the channel
properties.
• From the plot relating the depth of the flow "Y" and the Chezy
coefficient "C" it is noticed that they are directly related, i.e.
increasing "Y" will result in increasing the Chezy coefficient.
• The obtained value for Manning coefficient from the plot was
0.0398, but from our computations it was 0.013 as an average,
these differences shows an inaccuracy in the plot or an
experimental or calculations error.
• The slope of the plot log C vs. log R also was different from the
one in the theorem which it 1/6 while our calculations gave 4/17!
• The rate of flow is directly related to the Chezy coefficient.
• From the value of Manning coefficients (0.013) and referring back
to text books, the channel might be made of cast iron in a good
condition.