CIVE3400: Open Channel Hydraulics

Unsteady Flow Examples

(See www.efm.leeds.ac.uk/CIVE/CIVE3400 for assistance)

(Version 2)

Q1.The flow in a rectangular channel of width 5m, slope 0.001 and a Chezy C of 25is
uniform and has a depth of 1.5m. A gate at the downstream end increases the
depth by 10%. How long will it take this change in depth to affect levels in the
river 0.5 km upstream?

Q2. At a certain instant in time the depth and velocities of flow at three points in a
wide channel are known and give in the table below:

Point Chainage Velocity Depth

(km) (m/s) (m)
A 1.0 1.0 1.0
B 2.0 0.8 1.2
C 3.0 0.8 1.3

Using the method of characteristics calculate the flow conditions at point B at

maximum stable time step forward in time. Channel Slope is 0.0005 and
Chezy C = 40.

Q3.A long wide channel with a Channel slope = 0.001 and Chezy C = 40 flows
with uniform flow of 3.0 m3/s/m. Over a half hour period the upstream depth
increases by 25%. Calculate:
i) the upstream flow at the time of this depth measurement and
ii) estimate how long it will take for this depth change to reach 1km
downstream.