Introduction to Water Engineering

Slide 1

Introduction to Water Engineering

Module 4:
Critical flow and Introduction to Open Channel
1. Critical flow and Open Channel

Dr James Ward
Lecturer
School of Natural and Built Environments

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Slide 3 Let’s start by looking at critical flow and

introduction to open channel.

4.1 Critical flow and

introduction to open channel

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Introduction to Water Engineering

Slide 4 The learning outcomes are presented

Intended Learning Outcomes
here – we will look at critical flow, Froude
number and hydraulic jump.
At the end of this section,
you will be able to:-
Image source:
- Predict Critical flow
- Calculate Froude number
http://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2
- Determine Hydraulic jump 012/08/18/10/37/rain-54531_640.jpg?i

Slide 5 The main difference between open

A bit about open channel flow channel flow and pipe flow is that the
• Differs from pipe flow:
water surface in an open channel always
– In open channel flow, the water always has a surface has atmospheric pressure. So for
at atmospheric pressure
– Channel cross-section can be highly irregular and can instance a half-full sewer or stormwater
vary significantly along the channel’s length
pipe always has atmospheric pressure
• We’re just looking at Subcritical vs Supercritical flow inside on the water surface. Open
channels can be in the form of visible
• You’ll learn more about open channels in later courses
large channels, or partially full pipes. In a
large open channel, like a creek or a
drain, the cross section might be irregular
and can vary significantly along the
channel’s length. We’re going to focus
here on subcritical and supercritical flow
and what this means for analysing flow in
open channels. This forms a foundation
for more advanced concepts in civil
engineering hydraulics.

Image source -
http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/02/7
9/40/2794069_3c647b56.jpg

Slide 6 The driver of flow in an open channel is

Some basics gravity
• Uniform flow  head loss = fall in water surface so we need to consider the bed slope
Let’s start by considering uniform flow. In
V2/2g uniform flow, the flow depth is constant
so the water surface follows the bed
D
slope
In uniform flow we have a constant cross-
z
Bed slope SO sectional area which means uniform
Datum velocity along the channel length.
As there’s no change in velocity head, the
total energy line goes down with the bed
slope.
Total head loss is equal to the fall in
water surface.

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Introduction to Water Engineering

Slide 7 Okay, now let’s consider non-uniform

Non-uniform flow flow.
Again we need to look at the bed height
Friction slope SF and slope
V2/2g But in non-uniform flow the water depth is
Flow getting
not constant.
D
faster and In this picture, velocity is increasing with
shallower
bed slope
z
Bed slope SO as the flow is getting faster and shallower.
Datum As V increases, the square of V increases
even more,
So the total energy line is a curved line
and it doesn’t follow the bed slope.
The slope of the total energy line is called
the friction slope.

Slide 8 Flow in open channels can be deep and

Introducing the Froude number slow, or shallow and fast. We use the
• The Froude number, F, is given by:
terms “subcritical” and “supercritical” to
V distinguish these types of flow. To
F
gD determine whether flow in a particular
channel is subcritical or supercritical we
• When:
F < 1  subcritical flow
use the Froude number, velocity divided
F = 1  critical flow by square root of gravity times depth of
F > 1  supercritical flow
water. If this ratio is less than one, it
effectively means the velocity is smaller
and depth is larger, which is subcritical
flow. If the value is greater than one, the
large velocity and smaller depth imply fast
moving and shallow flow, which is
supercritical.

Slide 9 To understand critical flow, we need to

What is critical flow? start with the energy equation.
• We have to start with the energy equation
Let’s take a point somewhere along a
• At any point along a channel, the total energy is given channel.
by:
This is no different from the energy
V2 P
z   equation used in pipe flow.
2 g g
You’ll notice there is an energy co-
efficient (alpha) in this form of the
• Where α is the energy coefficient equation, which just accounts for real-
world variations in velocity and is typically
close to one.

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Introduction to Water Engineering

Slide 10 Now let’s consider a point on the surface,

Energy Equation where we know the pressure is zero, or
• Consider a point at the surface, so P = 0 (atmospheric)
atmospheric.
• z = the height of the bottom of the channel and D = Z is the height of the channel bed and D
depth of the channel, so the energy equation for a point
at the surface is: is the depth of the channel.
So, the energy equation is z plus D plus
V2 In fact, this relationship holds velocity head.
z  D  at any depth (not just the This equation holds at depths below the
2g surface).
surface too, because as D decreases P
increases in proportion.

Slide 11 Now we’re going to introduce a term

Specific energy called specific energy, which is the
• Specific energy is simply the total energy minus the
energy relative to the channel bed.
elevation of the channel bed (z): Specific energy is water depth plus
E  D 
V2 velocity head, so it’s the same as the
2g energy equation except that we’ve
• Now, as V = Q/A: neglected Z.
Using V=Q/A, we get an equation for
Q2 Q2
E  D   D specific energy
2gA2 2gA2
(assuming α = 1)
based on water depth, flow rate and
cross-sectional area.
You should note that the term A accounts
for both the channel width and the depth
of the flow, so depth really occurs twice in
this equation.

Slide 12 Unlike total energy,

Uniform flow specific energy is the energy measured
• Uniform flow
relative to the channel bed
In uniform flow, water depth and velocity
remain constant and therefore, specific
energy
Total energy E remains constant
along the entire flow path

Datum

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Introduction to Water Engineering

Slide 13 A 4 minute video explaining the impact of

Two alternate depths depth using an excel spread sheet is
provided – select play to begin.
Excel-based
spread sheet
video (4 mins) Image source
demonstrating http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4062/4288728
impact of channel
depth 056_076da425ab_z.jpg?zz=1

Select play to begin

Slide 14 From the specific energy equation we can

Two alternate depths see there are two possible flow depths for
each value of E. The figure here
illustrates this point with a general depth-
specific energy graph. In subcritical flow,
specific energy is dominated by depth of
water and in supercritical flow,
it is dominated by velocity head. This
graph illustrates that for a given value of
specific energy, there’s a shallow fast
moving version and a deep slow moving
version of the flow. The exception is
critical flow,
which is flow at the critical depth.

Image source- Les Hamill 2011,

Understanding hydraulics.

Slide 15 We can see the point illustrated in two

Two alternate depths different ways. The left side graph is for
constant discharge, showing that if we
take a line of constant E we get two
alternate flow depths. The right side
graph is for constant E, and again if we
take a line through a constant flow rate Q,
we get two alternate depths – one fast
and shallow, one slow and deep.

Image source- Les Hamill 2011,

Understanding hydraulics.

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Introduction to Water Engineering

Slide 16 If water is flowing higher than critical

Using critical depth depth, it is subcritical. Channel which gets
steeper, the flow is supercritical.

Slide 17 We denote critical flow depth Dc. If water

Using critical depth is flowing at a depth greater than Dc, it is
subcritical, like in the top left image here.

We can also define a critical slope Sc –

when a channel has a bed slope
shallower than Sc, the flow is subcritical
but if it gets steeper it could induced
supercritical flow. We'll look at critical
slope a bit later.

The bottom image is quite interesting. It

shows a bump in the channel bed, with
two different outcomes depending on
whether flow is supercritical or subcritical.
In subcritical flow, the bump might reduce
the flow depth, inducing a higher velocity.
This can result in a localised depression
in the water surface.
On the other hand if flow before the bump
is already supercritical, it can possibly
flow up and over the bump in the bed
slope.

The take-home message here is that

depending on whether flow is subcritical
or supercritical, there will be different
results from perturbations like bumps or
changes in bed slope.

Image source- Les Hamill 2011,

Understanding hydraulics.

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Introduction to Water Engineering

Slide 18 Let’s look at these concepts a little more

Using critical depth closely. Here we’ve got water at
subcritical flow, flowing in a channel
towards a raised bump. Upstream, the
specific energy is mostly made up of the
large depth plus a little bit of velocity head
reflecting the slow flow.
If we go back to that graph of depth-
specific energy, the upstream flow might
be around here.

When the water flows up over the bump,

we raise the bed of the channel which
means we have less specific energy.

So if we follow the curve on the graph we

see we’ve now got a lower flow depth, in
other words D2 is smaller than D1 –
depending on how big the bump is, this
could result in a significant depression in
the the water surface above.

Image source- Les Hamill 2011,

Understanding hydraulics.

Slide 19 In the previous example the specific

Get used to correcting the graph energy line was straight and horizontal
• i.e. imagine a graph with a “crooked” x-axis
like the graph here, but the stream bed
changed because of the bump.
E E
You need to remember that specific
energy is measured relative to the
channel bed, so the even though it looked
Stream bed like E was constant it was really
changing.

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Introduction to Water Engineering

Slide 20 Let’s go back to our bump example but

Using critical depth this time start with supercritical flow. Now
the upstream specific energy comprises a
little bit depth and a large amount of
velocity head.
The initial condition might be around here
on the graph.
When the flow hits the bump, just like the
subcritical example there will be a
reduction in specific energy.
This means slightly deeper flow and less
velocity head.

Image source- Les Hamill 2011,

Understanding hydraulics.

Slide 21 Practical difference between subcritical

The YouTube videos show experiments
and supercritical flow on subcritical, critical and supercritical
flow.

Video 1 Video 2 One of the most important aspects of

(0.51) (1.30)
critical flow is that in subcritical flow
• In subcritical flow, downstream conditions conditions, disturbances introduced
govern upstream effects
downstream cause changes to flow depth
• In supercritical flow, disturbances cannot
propagate upstream
upstream. In supercritical flow, the water
is moving too fast for disturbances to
propagate back upstream. This has
important implications in engineering
design.

Slide 22 Given the importance of subcritical and

Calculating critical flow conditions supercritical flow, we need equations to
• At critical depth, E is help us determine what flow conditions to
minimised:
 dE/dD = 0
expect in a channel. Earlier we used
Froude number but this only holds in
 Derivations of equations 8.25
-8.27 rectangular channels. The derivation of
equations for critical flow conditions in
irregular channels can be found in the
textbook.

Image source- Les Hamill 2011,

Understanding hydraulics.

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Introduction to Water Engineering

Slide 23 One useful equation relates the water

Calculating critical flow conditions surface width Bsc
• At critical depth DC the governing equation is:
to the flow rate Q
and cross-sectional area of flow Ac.
Q 2 BSC
3
1 The subscript “C” denotes critical flow
gAC These correspond conditions and this relationship only holds
to the surface width
& cross-sectional under critical flow.
area under critical
flow conditions
Image source- Les Hamill 2011,
Understanding hydraulics.

Slide 24 Lots of critical flow calculations need

Calculating critical flow conditions some sort of average value of critical
• Hydraulic mean critical depth DMC
depth. For an irregular shaped channel,
we get the hydraulic mean critical depth,
AC or DMC,
DMC  by dividing the cross-sectional flow area
BSC
AC
Q2 By the surface flow width BSC
DMC  2 This treats the channel like an equivalent
gAC
May necessitate an iterative / trial-and-error solution if DMC and AC are both rectangular section
unknown
Linking this equation with the one from
the previous slide gives DMC in terms of
flow depth and area.
We might need to use trial and error if
both DMC and AC are unknown.

Slide 25 Earlier on, we introduced the Froude

Recall the Froude number: number.
V
F
gD When F = 1, the flow condition is critical.
• F = 1 for critical flow conditions.
• Substitute DMC for D and V=Q/A from the continuity
equation: Substituting DMC and Q/A into the
Q  and as DMC = AC/BSC
equation for the Froude number,
  Q 
 AC   1   3
 AC   1 AC
gDMC Q g And the equation for DMC from the last
A
g C
BSC
BSC slide,

we can derive the equation for the critical

flow rate.

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Introduction to Water Engineering

Slide 26 If we want to know the velocity under

Critical velocity critical flow conditions we can use the
continuity equation and the equation for
• Start with these:
Q AC
3 critical flow from the last slide.
VC  Q g
AC BSC
Substituting for Q, we get an expression
3
A
g C for critical velocity VC in terms of AC and
3
BSC AC A BSC
VC   g 2
 g C
AC BSC AC BSC

Slide 27 Okay, so let’s just check to make sure it

Critical velocity all works, starting with our expression for
AC DMC
• Recall that
 DMC
BSC
So substitute into VC
AC
• So now: VC  g  gDMC Which gives us the Froude number equal
BSC
VC to 1 in the critical condition.
1 This is just the Froude
number, F = 1 !!! 
• i.e. gDMC

Slide 28 We can use these equations to test

Example 8.11 whether a particular flow rate is critical or
• Q = 2.144 m3/s
not.
• Is this critical flow?

• If critical, then:
In this example we’re given a flow of
Q B 2 2.144 m3/s.
SC
3
1
gA C Is it critical?

We can test it using this equation – if it

comes out equal to 1, then flow is critical.
You’ll have to calculate BS and AC from
the height and angles in the drawing. You
can find the full workout procedure in the
text book.

Image source- Les Hamill 2011,

Understanding hydraulics.

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Introduction to Water Engineering

Slide 29 Here’s another example.

Example 8.12

• Irregular cross-section BSC = 5.3 m (measured)

This time we’ve got an irregular-shaped
• Known to be at critical depth channel and we know the water’s flowing
AC = 3.7m2

• Q = ???
(measured) at critical depth.

We’ve got measurements of the channel

3 cross-sectional area and surface water
AC
Q g width.
BSC
We want to know flowrate Q.

Now all we need to do is find the equation

that brings AC and BSC together with our
unknown Q. Try this one.

You can find the full workout procedure in

the textbook.

Slide 30 Alright, now consider this one.

Example 8.13

• Irregular cross-section
Another irregular shaped channel, this
• Mean hydraulic depth DM = 0.81m time we don’t know whether it’s subcritical
• Mean velocity V = 2.97 ms-1
or supercritical.
• Subcritical or supercritical? V
F
gD What we do know is the mean depth of
flow, DM
• What are the limitations of your conclusion?

And the mean velocity V.

To work out whether it’s subcritical or

supercritical we can use the Froude
number.

Once you’ve worked out the Froude

number, think about any limitations to the
conclusions you make about the flow.
Check the workout procedure in the
textbook for more info.

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Introduction to Water Engineering

Slide 31 The critical slope is the bed slope

Critical slope required to maintain critical conditions.
• You should learn more about this in later courses (or feel
Any steeper and flow’s going to
free to read the rest of the chapter) accelerate to supercritical, shallow and
• For now, we’ll just pluck the equation out of the book: fast conditions. If bed slope is less than
2
VC n 2 Manning’s n
critical, flow starts to back up, producing
SC  4 deeper, slower subcritical conditions.
Critical RC 3 (a measure of
slope surface
Critical
roughness) We won’t cover the derivation this time
hydraulic round but you should learn more if you
radius
study hydraulics later.

Using the critical slope equation from the

textbook you can see SC

depends on the critical velocity,

as well as a term called the critical

hydraulic radius

and a measure of roughness called

“Manning’s n”.

The Manning’s n in open channel flow is

very similar to the K factor in pipe losses.
The rougher the channel surface, the
greater the slope needs to be to maintain
critical flow conditions.

Slide 32 Here’s an example of critical slope. It’s

Example 8.14 the same channel as we looked at in
• What bed slope would maintain Example 8.11, but now we’re given a
critical flow depth?
• Manning n = 0.015 s/m1/3
Manning’s n value and asked what the
2
VC n 2
bed slope would need to be to maintain
SC  4 critical flow.
RC 3

AC
• Important: RC  You’ll need to calculate the critical
Hydraulic radius PC
velocity if you didn’t already in the earlier
“Wetted perimeter” example.

An important bit of extra information is

that RC is the hydraulic radius, which is
found by dividing the area of flow by the
wetted perimeter.

The wetter perimeter’s the total perimeter

in contact with the water.

The workout procedure of Example 8.22

is available in the text book.

Image source- Les Hamill 2011,

Understanding hydraulics.

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Slide 33 Flow transition from subcritical to

Flow transitions supercritical
• Subcritical  supercritical
requires a velocity increase, which can be
• Requires velocity increase
e.g. increase in bed slope or decrease in A done by increasing bed slope or rapidly
decreasing area, such as by introducing a
• Relatively smooth transition
bump in the flow.

This type of transition is relatively smooth.

Image source -
http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/44/13/44
1399_cc75bac8.jpg

Slide 34 Transitioning from supercritical to

Flow transitions subcritical gives rise to a phenomenon
• Supercritical  subcritical
called a hydraulic jump.
• Fast, shallow flow  deep, slow flow
• May be caused by a steep (supercritical) slope changing
This is the transition of flow from fast,
to a shallow slope shallow flow to deep, slow flow.
• Often highly turbulent transition zone A good example is water coming from a
• Substantial loss of energy steep slope like the spillway of a dam,
then transitioning back to deep, slow
moving subcritical flow in the flatter
stream.

These flow transitions are often very

turbulent and there’s a substantial loss of
energy.

Image source -
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/com
mons/c/cd/South_Para_spillway.jpg

Slide 35 Let’s use the depth-specific energy graph

Hydraulic jump to help explain what happens in a
hydraulic jump.

D increases
slightly prior
We start in supercritical conditions here.
to jump
Depth increases slightly prior to jump,
which results in the loss of energy.

The jump is what happens when we hop

over to the subcritical position on the
graph and you can think of the turbulence
as being a result of temporarily departing
from the depth-specific energy curve.

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Introduction to Water Engineering

Slide 36 Okay, you might be wondering why the

Hydraulic jump flow can’t just smoothly follow the curve
This is a GAIN of around like this.
energy which
can’t happen!

The problem is that this part of the

process involves moving from low to high
energy

And without an external source of energy,

the process can’t simply gain energy

That’s why the only way to transition from

supercritical to subcritical flow involves
the jump.

Slide 37 There are two useful equations that we

Dimensions of a hydraulic jump can use to relate the supercritical
upstream flow depth to the subcritical
D2 
 1  8F2  1 depth downstream from the hydraulic
Relationship between
D1 
2
the flow heights before
(D1) and after (D2) 2   jump.
D1 
D2   1  8F1  1
2

2   The bottom equation here shows the

Energy loss 
D  D1 3
E  2 energy loss (ΔE) due to the hydraulic
4 D1 D2 jump.

Slide 38 Another term we might like to use is the

Dimensions of a hydraulic jump relative height of hydraulic jump, as
shown here.

Relative height
D2  D1   1  8F1  3
2

F1  2
2
E1

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Slide 39 By their nature hydraulic jumps are

Dimensions of a hydraulic jump turbulent and chaotic, but some people
F1 LJ have gathered experimental data to help
<1.7 Undular
Approximate length
estimate the physical length of the jump.
1.7 4.0D2
2.0 4.4D2
of the hydraulic jump
(determined
If the Froude number upstream (F1) is
2.5 4.8D2 experimentally) less than 1.7, the flow’s fairly close to
3.0 5.3D2
critical and the jump won’t be properly
4.0 5.8D2
5.0 6.0D2 turbulent. But with larger Froude numbers
7.0 6.2D2 we get decent supercritical conditions and
14.0 6.0D2
20.0 5.5D2
we can estimate the jump length as a
multiple of the downstream flow depth
D2.

Slide 40 Here’s an example from the textbook.

Example 8.18 The situation involves flow coming down
• Channel 5.0 m wide
a steep channel, like a spillway. It then
• D = 0.65 m, Q = 19.0 m3/s goes out into a horizontal channel and we
• Channel goes horizontal
want to know whether the conditions are
 will a jump occur? going to lead to a hydraulic jump forming.
 Determine ΔE, D2-D1 and LJ
We’re given some information about flow
rate, depth and channel width which we
can use to calculate velocity. First and
foremost, we need to work out the Froude
number to see if we’ve got proper
supercritical flow. If we do, then it’s likely
that a jump’s going to form as the flow
transitions to slower-moving flow down
the horizontal part of the channel. Then
we’ve been asked to work out the energy
loss and dimensions of the jump using
the equations in the past few slides.
Check the workout procedure in the text
book if you need to.

Slide 41 If you have any questions or desire

further clarification please post a question
or comment on the Discussion Forum.

Thank you

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