Open Channel Flow

Associate Professor Dr.Nasser Rostam Afshar

 Hours per
semester
Teaching-Learning Lectures 42
Approach
Student Centered 12
Learning
Laboratory/Practical -
Total 54
Percentage
Assessment Test(s) 30
Assignment(s),Tutorial(s), 30
PBL , Quize , Project(s) ,
Cooperative Learning
Final Exam 40
Total 100
 1.A.Chadwick, j.Morfett & M.Borthwick
(2004), “Hydraulics in civil and Environment
Engineering”, 4th Edition, E & Fn Spon, UK.
 2.K G Ranga Raju, “Flow Through Open
Channels”,(1986), Tata McGraw-Hill ,New
Delhi,India
 3.Ven. Te. Chow, “Open Channel Hydraulics”,
International Edition,(1973),McGraw-Hill
Book Co-Singapore

Open Channel Flow

 Open channel:

 A conduit in which the flowing stream is
not enclosed by a solid boundaries but has a
free surface exposed to atmospheric pressure
is known as an open channel.

 Open channel is also called free surface

flow.

Open Channel Flow

Open channel flow

 1.It is distinguished by
free surface.
 2.It may have any shape.
 3.surface roughness
varies between wide
range
 4.piezometric head is
z+h.
 5.Maximum velocity
occurs a little distance
below water surface.

Open channel flow

 Hydraulic and energy grade line:
 Hydraulic grade line in case of an open
channel flow is obviously the free surface
itself and for that reason open channel
flow is also called free surface flow.
 Energy grade line is the summation of
hydraulic grade line and velocity head.

Open Channel Flow

Types of flow:
𝜕ℎ
=0
𝜕𝑡
𝜕𝑈
𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 =0
𝜕𝑡
𝜕𝑄
=0
𝜕𝑡
flow 𝜕ℎ
≠0
𝜕𝑡
𝜕𝑈
𝑈𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 ≠0
𝜕𝑡
𝜕𝑄
≠0
𝜕𝑡

Open Channel Flow

 Types of flow(cont.):
𝜕ℎ
=0
𝜕𝑥
𝜕𝑢
𝑈𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑜𝑚𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 =0
𝜕𝑥
𝜕𝑄
=0
𝜕𝑥
 Steady flow 𝜕ℎ
≠ 0 → 𝑉𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤
𝜕𝑥
𝜕𝑢
𝑁𝑜𝑛 − 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 ≠ 0 → 𝑉𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤
𝜕𝑥
𝜕𝑄
≠ 0 → 𝑉𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑑 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤
𝜕𝑥

Open Channel Flow

 Types of flow(cont.):

𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑣𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤

𝑁𝑜𝑛 − 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤(𝑣𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤)
𝑅𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑑𝑙𝑦 𝑣𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤

𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤(𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒)

𝑈𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑣𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤
𝑁𝑜𝑛 − 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤
𝑅𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑑𝑙𝑦 𝑣𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤

Open Channel Flow

 State of flow(cont.):
 Laminar and turbulent flow(cont.):

𝐼𝑓 𝑅𝑒 ≤ 500 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑟

𝐼𝑓 𝑅𝑒 ≥ 2000 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡
𝐼𝑓 500 ≤ 𝑅𝑒 ≤ 2000 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒

Flow is laminar when one layer slides over

another layers of fluid . Mixing between
different layers occurs at high Reynolds
number which is known as turbulent flow.

Open Channel Flow

 State of flow(cont.):
 Laminar and turbulent flow:
 The force due to inertia , gravity and viscosity
need consideration in most practical problems in
open channel flow.
 The ratio of inertial forces to viscous forces per
unit volume is known as Reynolds number 𝑅𝑒 and
is given by:
𝑈𝐿
 𝑅𝑒 =
𝜈
 Where 𝑈 = 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦
 𝐿 = 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑
 𝜈 = 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑

Open Channel Flow

 State of flow(cont.):
 Laminar and turbulent flow(cont.):
 The velocity in any direction fluctuates in the
turbulent flow . If 𝑢 , 𝑣, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤 are instantaneous
velocities in the
𝑥 , 𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑧 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑦 , 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛
 𝑢 = 𝑢 + 𝑢′
 𝑣 = 𝑣 + 𝑣′
 𝑤 = 𝑤 + 𝑤′
 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑢 , 𝑣 𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑤 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 −
𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑
 𝑢 ′ , 𝑣 ′ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤 ′ 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠.

Open Channel Flow

 State of flow(cont.):
 Subcritical and supercritical flows:
 The ratio of inertial forces to the
gravitational forces (per unit volume) is
known as the Froude number and may be
written as
𝑈 𝑈
 𝐹= =
𝑔𝐿 𝑔𝐷
 Where 𝑔 = 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.
𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑥−𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤
 𝐷 = ℎ𝑦𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑡ℎ( )
𝑤𝑖𝑑𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒

Open Channel Flow

 State of flow(cont.):
 Subcritical and supercritical flows(cont.):
 𝐼𝑓 𝐹 = 1, 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙
 𝐼𝑓 𝐹 < 1 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑
 𝐼𝑓 𝐹 > 1𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙
 Regimes of flow
 𝐼𝑓𝐹 < 1 , 𝑅𝑒 ≤ 500 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎
 𝐼𝑓𝐹 > 1, 𝑅𝑒 ≤ 500 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑟
 𝐼𝑓𝐹 < 1, 𝑅𝑒 ≥ 2000 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡
 𝐼𝑓𝐹 > 1, 𝑅𝑒 ≥ 2000 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡

Open Channel Flow