Lecture #8

Gradually Varied Flow - Computation of Flow Profile

I. Numerical Integration Method (Compute x for a specified y2)

The water surface slope for an open channel can be expressed as follows:
Kn 2
)
dy
K
So
Zc
dx
1 ( )2
Z
1 (

(1)

or
dx
1

dy S o

Zc 2
)
Z
K
1 ( n )2
K
1 (

(2)

where:
K

1.486
AR 2 / 3
n

1
AR 2 / 3
n

(for English units)

(3-A)

(for SI units)

(3-B)

Kn

1.486
2/3
An Rn
n

Kn

1
2/3
An Rn
n

(for English units)

(4-A)

(for SI units)

(4-B)

ZA D

(5)

Z c Ac Dc

(6)

For a rectangular open channel with a width of b, a normal depth of yn, and a critical
depth of yc, Eqs.3, 4, 5, and 6 can be rewritten as follows:
K

1.486 5 / 3
by
n

1 5/3
by
n

Kn

1.486
5/ 3
byn
n

Kn

1
5/3
by n
n

(for English units)

(7-A)

(for SI units)

(7-B)

(for English units)

(for SI units)

Z A D by y by 3 / 2

(8-A)

(8-B)
(9)

Z c Ac Dc byc yc byc

3/ 2

(10)

Substituting Eqs.7, 8, 9, and 10 into Eq. 2 yields:

yc 3
)
dx 1
y

y
dy S o
1 ( n )10 / 3
y
1 (

(11)

Eq.2 (or Eq.11 for a rectangular open channel) can be integrated with respect to y to yield
the following equation:
x2

x2 x1 dx
x1

y2

y1

y2

dx
dx
1 dx
dx
dy ( ) ave dy [( ) 2 ( )1 ]( y2 y1 )
dy
dy
2 dy
dy
y

(12)

dx
)1 can be calculated from Eq.2 (or from Eq.11 for a rectangular open channel)
dy
dx
for section 1 for a known value of y1, and ( ) 2 for section 2 for a specified value of y2.
dy
Based on Eq.12, x2 can be computed as follows:
where : (

1 dx
dx
x2 x1 [( ) 2 ( )1 ]( y 2 y1 )
2 dy
dy

(13)

II. Direct Step Method (compute x for a specified y2)

The direct step method is based on the following energy equation:
2
2
V1
V2
z1 y1 1
z2 y2 2
hf
2g
2g
The above equation can be rearranged as follows:

z1 z2 h f E1 E2

(14)

(15)

where:
2

V1
E1 y1 1
2g
E2 y 2 2

(16)
2

V2
2g

(17)

z1 z2 So x

(18)

h f S f x

(19)

In Eq.19, S f is the average energy slope for the reach between section 1 and section 2,
and can be calculated as follows:
1
(20)
S f (S f 1 S f 2 )
2
where:
2

Sf1

S f1

n1 V1
R1

Sf2

n 2 V2
R2

(21-A)

(for SI units)

(21-B)

(for English units)

(22-A)

(for SI units)

(22-B)

n2 V2

4/3
2.22 R2
2

(for English units)

4/3

Sf2

n1 V1

4/3
2.22 R1

4/3

Therefore, Eq.15 can be expressed as follows:

( So S f )x E2 E1

(23)

or
3

E1 E2
S f So

(24)

For a known value of y1 and a specified value of y2, the values for E1, E2, Sf1, Sf2, S f can
be calculated form the above equations and substituted into Eq.24 to yield:
x2 x1 x

(25)

Example 1 Water Surface Profile (Numerical Integration Method)

A trapezoidal concrete channel has a constant bed slope of 0.0015, a bed width of 3.0 m,
and side slopes of 1:1. It carries a discharge of 20 m3/s. The channel is tributary to a river
in which the existing flood level is 3.5m above the channel bed. Compute the water
surface profile by the numerical integration method to a depth 5% greater than the
uniform flow depth. 1 .1 and n = 0.025.
Solution:
(a). Compute uniform flow depth (i.e. normal depth) yn using Mannings equation as
follows:
1
1/ 2
AR 2 / 3 So
n

(1)

In the above equation:

A y (3 y )

(2)

P 3 2 2 y 3 2.82 y

(3)

A
y (3 y )

P 3 2.82 y

(4)

Substituting Eqs.2, 3 and 4 into Eq.1 yields

1
y (3 y ) 2 / 3 1 / 2
[ y (3 y )][
] So
n
3 2.82 y

(for SI units)

(5)

Substituting Q, n, and So into Eq.5 yields,

20

1
y (3 y ) 2 / 3
[ y (3 y )][
] 0.00151/ 2
0.025
3 2.82 y

(6)

Eq.6 can be solved to yield the normal depth as follows:

yn 2.15m

(7)

(b). Compute critical depth yc using the following equation:

Z c Ac Dc

Q
g /

(8)

In the above equation:

Ac yc (3 yc )

(9)

Tc 3 2 yc

(10)

Ac y c (3 y c )

Tc
3 2 yc

Dc

(11)

Substituting Eqs.9 and 11 into Eq.8 yields:

Zc

[ y c (3 y c )] 2

3 2 yc

(12)

g /

Substituting Q, g, and into Eq.12 yields:

[ y c (3 y c )]1.5
(3 2 y c )

0.5

20

(13)

9.8 / 1.1

Eq.13 can be solved to yield the critical depth as follows:

yc 1.45m

(14)

(c). Compute the water surface profile:

Since yn is greater than yc, the channel has a mild slope. Also, since y1 = 3.5 m at the
downstream end of the channel is greater than yn, the water surface profile is a M-1 curve.
Therefore, the computation should be progressed upstream from the end of the channel.
The computation may be based on the following equation:

x x2 x1

1 dx
dx
( )1 ( ) 2 ( y 2 y1 )

2 dy
dy

(16)

where dx/dy is expressed as follows:

Zc 2
)
dx
1
Z

K
dy S o
1 ( n )2
K
1 (

(17)

Kn

1
AR 2 / 3 for y = yn
n

1
AR 2 / 3 for any specified y (for SI units)
n

[ yc (3 y c )]2
Zc
3 2 yc

(for SI units)

(18)

(19)
(20)

[ y (3 y )]2
3 2y

for any specified y

(21)

Substituting yn = 2.15 m and yc = 1.45m into Eqs. 18 and 20, respectively, yield:
K n 516.4

(22)

Z c 6.70

(23)

Water surface profile may be calculated using Eq.16 starting from the depth of 3.5 m at
the downstream end to 1.05 yn = 2.26 m in an upstream location. The results are shown
in the following table.
y

R2/3

dx/dy

3.50
3.30

10.00
9.60

12.90
12.33

22.75
20.79

1.76
1.69

1.46
1.42

1328.5
1177.9

34.3
30.6

3.00
2.70
2.50
2.40
2.30
2.26

9.00
8.40
8.00
7.80
7.60
7.52

11.48
10.64
10.07
9.79
9.50
9.39

18.00
15.39
13.75
12.96
12.19
11.89

1.57
1.45
1.37
1.32
1.28
1.27

1.35
1.28
1.23
1.21
1.18
1.17

971.5
787.6
676.9
625.1
575.6
556.4

25.5
20.8
18.0
16.7
15.4
14.9

755
786

-154

0
-154

865
1048
1374
1761
2773
3841

-248
-287
-242
-157
-227
-132

-402
-689
-931
-1088
-1314
-1447

Example 2 Water Surface Profile (Direct Step Method)

A trapezoidal concrete channel has a constant bed slope of 0.0015, a bed width of 3.0 m,
and side slopes of 1:1. It carries a discharge of 20 m3/s. The channel is tributary to a river
in which the existing flood level is 3.5m above the channel bed. Compute the water
surface profile by the direct step method to a depth 5% greater than the uniform flow
depth. 1 and n = 0.025.
Solution:
(a). The uniform flow depth (i.e. normal depth) yn was calculated in problem 10.29 as
follows:

yn 2.15m

(1)

(b). Compute the water surface profile:

The computation should be progressed upstream from the downstream end of the
channel using the following equation:
x

E1 E2
S f So

(2)

where:

Sf

1
(S f 1 S f 2 )
2

S f1

n1 V1

Sf2

n 2 V2

R1

4/3

R2

(3)
(for SI units)

(4)

(for SI units)

(5)

4/3

V1
E1 y1 1
2g
E2 y 2 2

(6)
2

V2
2g

(7)

Water surface profile may be calculated using Eq.2 starting from the depth of 3.5 m at the
downstream end to 1.05 yn = 2.26 m in an upstream location. The results are shown in
the following table.

R2/3

V2/2g

Sf

Ave Sf

Ave Sf-So

0.000227

3.50

10.00 12.90 22.75

1.76

1.46

0.88

0.043 3.543

3.30

9.60

12.33 20.79

1.69

1.42

0.96

0.052 3.352 0.191 0.000288 0.000257 -0.001243

-154

-154

3.00

9.00

11.48 18.00

1.57

1.35

1.11

0.069 3.069 0.283 0.000424 0.000356 -0.001144

-247

-401

2.70

8.40

10.64 15.39

1.45

1.28

1.30

0.095 2.795 0.275 0.000645 0.000534 -0.000966

-284

-685

2.50

8.00

10.07 13.75

1.37

1.23

1.45

0.119 2.619 0.176 0.000873 0.000759 -0.000741

-238

-923

2.40

7.80

9.79

12.96

1.32

1.21

1.54

0.134 2.534 0.085 0.001024 0.000948 -0.000552

-154

-1077

2.30

7.60

9.50

12.19

1.28

1.18

1.64

0.151 2.451 0.083 0.001207 0.001115 -0.000385

-215

-1292

2.26

7.52

9.39

11.89

1.27

1.17

1.68

0.159 2.419 0.032 0.001292 0.001250 -0.000250

-129

-1421