HYDRAULICS

CE 123 – LECTURE 7
(WATER FLOW IN OPEN
CHANNELS)
WATER FLOW IN OPEN CHANNELS
 WATER PROPERTIES

 Water flows from high energy to lower energy zones

 Water follows the path of least resistance
WATER FLOW IN OPEN CHANNELS
 WATER PROPERTIES

 Water seeks its own level

 If it is at elevation 100 on one side of a dam or levee, it
wants to be the same elevation on the other side

 Water is incompressible that’s why it transmits energy well

 Water is liquid at normal temperature

WATER FLOW IN OPEN CHANNELS
 WATER PROPERTIES

 Heating the water to 212⁰ F (boiling point) raises the

vapor pressure to atmospheric pressure and liquid
turns to gas

 Lowering the pressure of water can cause gas

formation at lower temperatures
WATER FLOW IN OPEN CHANNELS
 WATER PROPERTIES

 The density of water does not change significantly

with ambient temperature range

 This means that the density changes in flowing rivers

because of mixing can usually be ignored
 But in lakes these slight density differences result in
thermal stratification
WATER FLOW IN OPEN CHANNELS
 WATER IN MOTION

 Water moves from high energy to lower energy and

the flow is resisted by the boundary roughness
WATER FLOW IN OPEN CHANNELS
 WATER IN MOTION

 The flowrate of water moving past a cross section is

equal to the area of the cross section multiplied by
the velocity
WATER FLOW IN OPEN CHANNELS
 WATER IN MOTION

 When water is flowing, it is almost always 3-

dimensional but this is difficult to quantify.

 To simplify, the flow

descriptions, analysis, and
modeling are made in
2-D or 1-D
WATER FLOW IN OPEN CHANNELS
 CHANGE OF FLOW WITH RESPECT TO TIME

 UNSTEADY: changing
 Example:
Missouri River Flow
hydrograph at
Decatur where
the discharge
varies with time
WATER FLOW IN OPEN CHANNELS
 CHANGE OF FLOW CONDITIONS WITH RESPECT TO SPATIAL POSITION
 Example:
 The flow along these
profiles is gradually
varied in which the
flow characteristics
change slowly in the
upstream to downstream
direction.

 Right at the abrupt drop in the lower profile, however, the flow characteristics change very fast.
This is known as rapidly varied flow.
WATER FLOW IN OPEN CHANNELS
 SPECIFIC ENERGY
 Specific Energy for open channels can be defined as

E = y + V2/2g where y is the depth of water above the

channel bed and V2/2g is the velocity head
WATER FLOW IN OPEN CHANNELS
 NORMAL DEPTH

 Normal Depth is the depth at which the available energy and

energy expended are in balance
WATER FLOW IN OPEN CHANNELS
 CRITICAL DEPTH and MINIMUM ENERGY
 Critical Depth is the depth at which energy is the minimum
possible for an open channel cross section of a given size,
shape and flow

 critical depth does not depend on roughness or slope, only on

discharge

yc = (q2/g)1/3 Emin = (3/2) yc

(for rectangular channels)
WATER FLOW IN OPEN CHANNELS
 FLOW REGIMES

 Hydraulic Jump

 occurs when there

is a transition from
supercritical to
subcritical flow
WATER FLOW IN OPEN CHANNELS

 FLOW
COMPUTATION
WATER FLOW IN OPEN CHANNELS
 FLOW
COMPUTATION

 Cross Sections
 Free surface varies with time affecting area, channel area,
depth, roughness, and slope
 The relationship b/w these variables, usually makes open
channel flow problems tougher to deal with
WATER FLOW IN OPEN CHANNELS
 FLOW
COMPUTATION

 Roughness (n-values)
 Roughness varies depending on water
depth, substrate size, density of
vegetation, etc…

 Slope
 The friction slope which is the rate at which head (energy) is
expended through friction per unit horizontal length of flow
 The physical slope of the bed of an open channel may, or may
not, happen to match the friction slope
WATER FLOW IN OPEN CHANNELS

 SAMPLE PROBLEM 1

Water flows at 12 m3/s through an almost level

channel which is 3.0 m wide. The depth gradually
increases from 1.0 m to 1.1 m for a 5 m length of
flow. Determine the head loss, slope of energy
gradient and the roughness coefficient of the
channel.
 WATER FLOW IN OPEN CHANNELS

 SAMPLE PROBLEM 2

An open channel is to be designed to carry 1.0 m3/s at

a slope of 0.0065. The channel material has a
roughness coefficient of 0.011. For the most efficient
section, determine the depth for a semi-circular,
rectangular, trapezoidal, and triangular section.

Homework: The determination of the depth of water for rectangular, trapezoidal and triangular sections.
 From Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulics, 3rd Edition
 By Venancio I. Besavilla, Jr.

ADDITIONAL FORMULAS
MOST EFFICIENT SECTIONS
CRITICAL STAGES OF CHANNELS
CRITICAL STAGES OF CHANNELS
CRITICAL STAGES OF CHANNELS