Department of Civil Engineering

University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar

CE-402: Irrigation Engineering

Lecture 5
Classification of Canals, Cross
Section of Canal, Design of Irrigation
Canals – Kennedy’s Silt Theory

8th Semester (4th Year)

Civil Engineering
Spring 2021

Lecturer: Alamgir Khalil

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University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar

Canal

➢ A canal is an artificial channel, generally trapezoidal in shape

constructed on the ground to carry water to the fields either from the
river or reservoir.

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Classification of Canals

➢ Classification based on the nature of source of supply

1) Permanent Canal
2) Inundation Canal

1) Permanent Canal
➢ A canal is said to be permanent when it is fed
by a permanent source of water supply. It is
also sometimes known as perennial canal.

2) Inundation Canal
➢ It usually draws its supply from river
whenever there is a high stage in the river.
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Classification of Canals (cont.)

➢ Classification based on the financial output

1) Productive Canal
2) Protective Canal

1) Productive Canal

➢ Productive canal is one which yield a Productive Canal, South-North Water

Transfer Project, China
net revenue to the nation after full
development of irrigation in the area.

2) Protective Canal
➢ Protective canal is a sort of relief work
constructed with the idea of protecting a
particular area from famine. Protective Canal 4
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Classification of Canals (cont.)

➢ Classification based on function of the canal

1) Irrigation Canal
2) Feeder Canal
3) Navigation Canal
4) Power Canal

1) Irrigation Canal – An irrigation canal carries

water to the agricultural fields.
2) Feeder Canal – A feeder canal is constructed
with the idea of feeding two or more canals.
3) Navigation Canal – used for transport of goods.
4) Power Canal – used to carry water for generation
of hydropower.
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Classification of Canals (cont.)

➢ Classification based on boundary surface of canal

1) Alluvial Canal
2) Non- Alluvial Canal

1) Alluvial Canal
➢ If the canal is excavated in alluvial soils such as silt,
sand, gravel, etc. then it is said to be an alluvial
canal.

2) Non-Alluvial Canal
➢ If the boundary surface of the canal is of non-alluvial
soils such as clay, rock, etc. then it is said to be a
non-alluvial canal.
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Classification of Canals (cont.)

➢ Classification based on discharge and its relative importance in a given

network of canals

1) Main Canal

2) Branch Canal

3) Major Distributary

4) Minor Distributary

5) Water Course

Layout of a canal system

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Classification of Canals based on Discharge

Layout of a canal system

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Classification of Canals (cont.)

1) Main Canal

➢ Main canal generally carries water directly from the river. Such a canal
carries heavy supplies and is not used for direct irrigation. Main canals
act as water carriers to feed supplies to branch canals and major
distributaries.

2) Branch Canal

➢ Branch canals are the branches of the main canal in either direction
taking off at regular intervals. Branch canals are usually feeder channels
for major and minor distributaries. They usually carry a discharge of over
5 cumecs.

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Classification of Canals (cont.)

3) Major Distributary
➢ They usually take off from a branch canal. They may also sometimes take
off from the main canals, but their discharge is generally less than branch
canals. They supply water for irrigation to the fields through outlets
provided along them. Their discharge varies from 0.25 to 5 cumecs.

4) Minor Distributary
➢ Minor distributaries called minors take off from branch canals or from
distributaries. Their discharge is usually less than 0.25 cumecs. They
supply water to the water courses through outlets provided along
them.

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Classification of Canals (cont.)

5) Water Course

➢ A water course is a small channel which ultimately feeds the water to

irrigation fields. Depending upon the size and extent of the irrigation
scheme, a field channel may take off from a distributary or minor.
Sometimes it may even take off from the branch canal for the field
situated very near to the branch canal.

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Classification of Canals (cont.)

➢ Classification based on canal alignment

1) Contour Canal
2) Watershed Canal (Ridge Canal)
3) Side Slope Canal

1) Contour Canal

➢ A channel aligned nearly parallel to the

contours of the country is called a
contour canal.
➢ The contour chosen for the alignment
should be so placed as to include all
culturable area of the valley on one Alignment of a contour canal
(Head reach of main canal in hills)
side of the canal.
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Classification of Canals (cont.)

1) Contour Canal
➢ The contour canal can irrigate only on one side as
the ground level on the other side is higher.
➢ The contour canal does not follow the same contour
all along. To enable the water to flow by gravity,
some slope is given. The rate at which the canal
alignment leaves one contour and takes up another
depends upon its slope.

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Classification of Canals (cont.)

2) Watershed Canal (Ridge Canal)
➢ The canal which is aligned along any
natural watershed (ridge line) is called a
watershed canal, or a ridge canal.
➢ Aligning a canal (main canal or branch
canal or distributary) on the ridge ensures
gravity irrigation on both sides of the canal.
➢ Thus, between two major streams, there is
the main watershed (ridge line), which
divides the drainage area of the two
streams.
➢ Since the drainage flows away from the
ridge, no drainage can cross a canal aligned
on the ridge. Thus, a canal aligned on the Alignment of a ridge or watershed canal
watershed saves the cost of construction of (Head reach of main canal in plains)
cross-drainage works.
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Classification of Canals (cont.)

3) Side Slope Canal

➢ A side slope canal is that which is aligned at

right angles to the contours; i.e. along the
side slopes.

➢ Since such a canal runs parallel to the natural

drainage flow, it usually does not intercept
drainage channels, thus avoiding the
construction of cross-drainage structures.

Alignment of a side slope canal

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Classification of Canals (cont.)

1) Unlined Canal
➢ Bed and banks made up of natural soil.
➢ Water velocities higher than 0.7 m/s are not
tolerable.
➢ High seepage and conveyance water losses.
➢ Profuse growth of aquatic weeds retards the
flow.

2) Lined Canal
➢ Lining of impervious material on its bed
and banks to prevent the seepage of water.
➢ Different types of lining used e.g. concrete,
brick or burnt clay tile, boulder etc.
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Cross Section of an Irrigation Canal

➢ A canal is generally taken in such a way that its section is partly in cutting and
partly in filling in order to approach close to the balancing depth. Many
times, however, the canal has to be carried through deep cutting or filling. A
canal section may therefore be either;
1) Canal in cutting
2) Canal in filling
3) Canal partly in cutting and partly in filling

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Cross Section of an Irrigation Canal (cont.)

1) Canal in cutting
➢ When the natural surface level (i.e. NSL) or ground level (GL) is above the top
of the bank, the entire canal section will have to be in cutting.

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Cross Section of an Irrigation Canal (cont.)

2) Canal in filling
➢ When the natural surface level (i.e. NSL) or ground level (GL) is lower than
the bed level of the canal, the entire canal section will have to be built in
filling.

GL

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Cross Section of an Irrigation Canal (cont.)

3) Canal partly in cutting and partly in filling
➢ A canal is partly in cutting and partly in filling when the NSL or ground level is in
between the top of bank and canal bed level.
➢ A typical and most desired section of a canal is shown below. This section is
partly in cutting and partly in filling and aims in balancing the quantity of
earthwork in ‘excavation’ with that in ‘filling’.

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Cross Section of an Irrigation Canal (cont.)

➢ A cross section of an irrigation canal showing various components is given

below. These components include;

✓ Side Slope
✓ Berm
✓ Free Board
✓ Banks
✓ Service Road
✓ Dowla or Dowel
✓ Spoil Banks
✓ Borrow Pits
✓ Back Berm or Counter Berm
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Cross Section of an Irrigation Canal (cont.)

Side Slope
➢ The side slopes should be such that they are stable, depending upon the type
of the soil. A comparatively steeper slope can be provided in cutting rather
than in filling, as the soil in the former case shall be more stable.

Type of soil Slope in Cutting Slope in Filling

Clayey Soil 1.5:1 2:1
Sandy Soil 3:1 4:1
Loamy Soil 1.5:1 2:1
Gravel Soil 0.75:1 1.25:1
Hard Rock 0.25:1 ---
Soft Rock 0.5:1 ---

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Cross Section of an Irrigation Canal (cont.)

Berm
➢ Berm is the horizontal distance left at ground level between the toe of the
bank and the top edge of cutting.
➢ Purposes of Berms:
✓ They give additional strength to the banks and provide protection against
erosion and breaches.
✓ They provide a scope for future widening of the canal.

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Cross Section of an Irrigation Canal (cont.)

Free Board
➢ The margin between FSL and bank level is known as free board.

➢ The amount of free board depends upon the discharge of the channel.

➢ Recommended minimum freeboard = 0.5 m

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Cross Section of an Irrigation Canal (cont.)

Free Board
➢ The generally provided values of free board are given in Table.

Discharge (cumecs) Free board (m)

1 to 5 0.50
5 to 10 0.60
10 to 30 0.75
30 to 150 0.90

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Cross Section of an Irrigation Canal (cont.)

Canal Bank
➢ The primary purpose of banks is to retain water.

➢ This can be used as means of communication and as inspection paths.

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Cross Section of an Irrigation Canal (cont.)

Canal Bank

➢ Banks should be wide enough, so that a minimum cover of 0.5 m is available

above the saturation line.

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Cross Section of an Irrigation Canal (cont.)

Service Road
➢ These are provided on canals for inspection purposes and may simultaneously
serve as the means of communication in remote areas. They are provided
0.4 m to 1 m above FSL, depending upon the size of channel.

Dowla or Dowel
➢ As a measure of safety in driving with side slopes of 1.5:1 to 2:1, are provided
along the banks.
➢ The top width of dowla is kept
from 0.3 to 0.6 m and is 0.3 m
above the service road.

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Cross Section of an Irrigation Canal (cont.)

Spoil Bank

➢ When the earthwork in excavation exceeds earthwork in filling, the extra

earth has to be disposed off economically.
➢ Economical mode of its disposal may be collecting this soil on the edge of the
bank embankment itself. Longitudinal drains running by their sides are
excavated for the disposal of rainwater.

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Cross Section of an Irrigation Canal (cont.)

Borrow Pit

➢ When the earthwork in filling exceeds the

earthwork in excavation, the earth has to be
brought from somewhere.
➢ The pits, which are dug for bringing earth are
known as borrow pits.
➢ If such pits are excavated outside the channel,
they are known as external borrow pits, and if
they are excavated somewhere within the
channel, they are known as internal borrow pits.
➢ Internal borrow pits are more preferred than external one. The inside borrow pit may
be located at the center of canal. The idea behind this is that the borrow pits will act
as water pockets where the silt will be deposited and ultimately the canal bed will get
levelled up.
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Cross Section of an Irrigation Canal (cont.)

Back Berm or Counter Berm
➢ Even after providing sufficient section for bank embankment, the saturation
gradient line may cut the downstream end of the bank. In such a case, the
saturation line can be kept covered at least by 0.5 m with the help of counter
berms as shown in figure below

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Balancing Depth for Excavating Canals

➢ A canal section will be economical when earthwork involved at a particular
section has an equal amount of cut and fill. Usually a canal section has a part
in cutting and part in filling. If the amount of cut is equal to the amount of
fill, it has to be paid for once only.
➢ Definition : For a given cross section, there is always only one depth for which
the cutting and filling will be equal. This depth is known as balancing depth.

Balancing depth can

be computed by
equating the areas
of cutting and
filling.

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Balancing Depth – Example

Calculate a balancing depth for a channel section having a bed width equal
to 18 m and side slopes of 1:1 in cutting and 2:1 in filling. The bank
embankments are kept 3 m higher than the ground level (berm level) and
crest width of banks is kept 2 m.

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Design of Unlined Canals

➢ The design of unlined canals which will remain stable is an important
challenge for the hydraulic and irrigation engineer.
➢ The solution of the problem consists in determining depth, bed width, side
slopes and longitudinal slope of the channel so as to produce a non-silting
and non-scouring velocity for the given discharge and sediment load.
➢ An empirical approach to find a stable section was based on the analysis of
data observed for the canals which were flowing in regime for many years.
➢ Empirical relations between velocity, depth, hydraulic radius and slopes were
found, to determine a stable cross-section.
➢ The relationships that were developed in the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent are
✓ Kennedy’s silt theory
✓ Lacey’s regime theory

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Kennedy’s Silt Theory

➢ R. G. Kennedy, Executive Engineer, Punjab Irrigation, in-charge of the Upper
Bari Doab Canal (UBDC), published his work in 1895 through the institution
of Civil Engineers, London.
➢ Kennedy selected 22 sites on UBDC for carrying out investigations about
velocity and depth of the channel.
➢ The sites selected by him did not require any silt clearance for more than 30
years and were thus supposed to be flowing with non-silting non-scouring
velocity.
➢ The vertical eddies generated from the bed of channel support the silt in
suspension. Some eddies may start from the channel sides but these are for
most of its part horizontal and so do not have any silt supporting power. The
silt supporting power of the stream is proportional to the bed width and not
the perimeter of the channel.

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Kennedy’s Silt Theory (cont.)

➢ Kennedy defined critical velocity as non-silting non-scouring velocity and

gave a relationship between critical velocity to the depth of flowing water.
The relation is;

𝑉𝑜 = 0.55𝐷 0.64 MKS system 𝑉𝑜 = 0.84𝐷 0.64 FPS system

Where,
𝑉𝑜 = critical velocity
𝐷 = depth of water

✓ This equation was developed on the basis of observations on one canal only.
It is applicable to only those channels which are flowing in sandy silt of the
same quantity or grade as that of Upper Bari Doab Canal system (Pakistan).
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Kennedy’s Silt Theory (cont.)

➢ Another factor m, critical velocity ratio, was introduced to account for the
variation of silt grade from the standard conditions of UBDC in his equation;

𝑉 = 0.55𝑚𝐷 0.64 MKS system

𝑉 = 0.84𝑚𝐷 0.64 FPS system

Where,
𝑉
𝑚= = critical velocity ratio (CVR)
𝑉𝑜

𝑉 = Critical velocity for relevant silt grade of an area

𝑉𝑜 = Critical velocity for UBDC system

✓ Sand coarser than the standard silt at UBDC was assigned the values of m
from 1.1 to 1.2 and that finer than the standard from 0.9 to 0.8
✓ For silt of River Indus in Sindh, m = 0.7
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Kennedy’s Silt Theory (cont.)

➢ In general form 𝑉𝑜 = 𝐶𝐷 𝑛

Where,
Vo = critical velocity,
D = depth of water
C = constant, and n = index number

Type of silt grade C m

Coarse silt 0.7 1.3
Sandy loam silt 0.65 1.2
Coarse light sandy silt 0.59 1.1
Light sandy silt 0.53 1.0
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Kennedy’s Silt Theory (cont.)

➢ No separate formula was suggested for fixing the longitudinal slope, and the
Chezy’s formula with Kutter’s C was used

𝑉 = 𝐶 𝑅𝑆

1 0.00155 1.811 0.00281

23 ++ 41.65 + +
𝐶= 𝑁 𝑆 𝐶= 𝑁 𝑆
0.00155 𝑁 0.00281 𝑁
1 + 23 + 1 + 41.65 +
𝑆 𝑅 MKS system
𝑆 𝑅 FPS system

Where, Channel of conditions Value of N

𝐶 = flow resistance factor Very good 0.0225
𝑆 = slope of channel Good 0.025
𝑅 = hydraulic radius
Fair 0.0275
𝑁 = rugosity coefficient
Poor 0.03
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Kennedy’s Silt Theory (cont.)

➢ No relationship for ratio of B and D was provided. In order to calculate the

section of the channel the following must be known, Q, N, m and S.

➢ It is then possible to fix the area of cross section by assuming side slopes,
determining the breadth and depth. It may be noted that to carry the same
discharge with the same sediment load, we may have a number of
combination of slope, bed width and depth, and that choice of the best
section may become difficult.

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Kennedy’s Silt Theory – Design Procedure

(Case-I) When Q, N, m and S are given

➢ Step # 1: Assume a trial value of depth (D)
➢ Step # 2: Calculate the critical velocity using the equation

𝑉 = 0.55𝑚𝐷 0.64 MKS system

𝑉 = 0.84𝑚𝐷 0.64 FPS system

𝑄
➢ Step # 3: Calculate the area A, 𝐴=
𝑉

➢ Step # 4: Knowing D and A, calculate the bed width B. The side slope of the
alluvial soil is assumed to be ½ : 1 (Z:1)

𝐷2
𝐴 = 𝐵𝐷 + From which B can be calculated.
2
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Kennedy’s Silt Theory – Design Procedure (cont.)

(Case-I) When Q, N, m and S are given

➢ Step # 5: Calculate wetted perimeter and Hydraulic mean depth by applying

formulas
1 2
P = B + 2D( 𝑧2 + 1) = 𝐵 + 2𝐷 + 1 = 𝐵 + 𝐷 √5
2

𝐴 𝐵𝐷 + 𝐷2 /2
𝑅= =
𝑃 𝐵 + 𝐷√5

➢ Step # 6: Calculate the actual mean velocity of flow from the Chezy’s and
Kutter’s equations. If this value is the same as calculated value in Step # 2,
then the assume depth is correct. If different then repeat the calculation with
a new assumed D value till the two velocities remains the same.
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Kennedy’s Silt Theory – Example

Design an irrigation channel with the following data by Kennedy’s theory.

Given that Q = 30 cumecs; S = 1/5000; N = 0.0225 and CVR = m =1.0

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