INTRODUCTION TO RIVER

HYDRAULICS
Dr. Florante C. Poso, Jr.
An alluvial river is river in
which the bed and banks are
made up of mobile sediment
and/or soil. Alluvial rivers
are self-formed, meaning
that their channels are
shaped by the magnitude
and frequency of the floods
that they experience, and
the ability of these floods to
erode, deposit, and
transport sediment.
A number of basic requirements for human
life, such as water supply, means of
transport by navigation, hydropower,
drainage and discharge of waste water,
are provided by rivers.
 However, also some
negative aspects of
river can be indicated
in relation to human
living conditions, such
as floods, if they are
above certain limits.
Inundation or
flooding (Sudan,
Ethiopia), are among
the negative impacts of
floods of Blue Nile.
 Erosion, watershed
land erosion, river-bed
and bank scour,
sedimentation at
storage reservoirs and
intake structures and
hampering transport
across the river, and
pollution
 River Engineering is an engineering
science that regulates the relationship between
natural river and human life.
The regulation can be done by Human
interference with Natural River by Planning,
Design and Implementation of Engineering
Works.
The main objectives are to minimize the
natural adverse effects to human interests, and
optimize the benefits to human interests.
 Planning and design of river training
works have to be based on a thorough
understanding of the physical
characteristics of the river system.
 Such understanding will be obtained by
applying the following methods of
investigation:
Field investigations, measurements
and surveys
Laboratory tests (physical model)
Mathematical modeling
 Riverplanning and regulations need
careful field investigation and
measurements because the results of
human activities in a river may not be
easy to predict, especially in a
quantitative way.

 To decide in such planning the collected

field data should be evaluated by
supporting tools.
 The two types of model have their own field of
applications and sometimes they are used in
conjunction.

1. The Mathematical model gives information by

computation.
 This model has no restriction on the prototype
areas to be modeled or the available areas in the
laboratory specified for modeling.
 Also, the mathematical modeling consumes less
money and time.
2. The physical model gives information by
measurements.
 The physical models give better results in some
complex cases of study, for example the three-
dimensional flows, specifically turbulence effects, scour
and deposit near structures, and determination of the
hydraulic roughness.
 Therefore, the combination between the mathematical
models and the physical models is required in certain
cases to achieve the best results.
 Both types of models involve the schematization of
physical phenomena and river geometry.
 This means that they must be calibrated and only used
to predict new situations when they have proved to
reproduce existing situation in a suitable way.
RIVER MORPHOLOGY
 Types of rivers
1) Diluvial rivers
This type of river is characterized by the fact that
no unique relations exist between the discharge of
water, the sediment transport and the bed material.
Morphological changes due to the interaction of
the hydraulic and sedimentological characteristics of
the river are absent and the river systems can be
considered as morphologically stable.
In general, diluvial rivers are found in the upper
reaches with a rock bed and mountainous or torrential
flow characteristics.
DILUVIAL RIVERS
DILUVIAL RIVERS
DILUVIAL RIVERS
2) ALLUVIAL RIVERS
Alluvial streams may be defined as
an open conduit, with geometric
dimensions – cross section, longitudinal
profile, and slope – changing with time,
in dependence of discharge, material of
stream bed and banks, and quantity
and quality of the sediment carried by
the water.
 ALLUVIAL RIVERS
 Alluvial channels are virtually free to adjust their
dimensions and shape in response to changing
hydraulic conditions and shape in place;
 It is evident, therefore, that most parts of the stream
bed and its banks are composed of the material
transported by the stream under recent flow
conditions (discharges), or at least during the latest
geological age.
 In these rivers a clear relation exists between the
hydraulic characteristics, the bed material, the
sediment transport and the morphological bed and
plan form development.
 The alluvial rivers are therefore morphologically
unstable.
ALLUVIAL RIVERS
ALLUVIAL RIVERS
LONGITUDINAL PROFILE
The longitudinal profile can generally be
subdivided into three parts:
1. the upper river, where erosion takes place;
2. the middle river where erosion and deposition
are more or less in equilibrium;
3. and the lower river, where sedimentation takes
place.
LONGITUDINAL PROFILE
 In theory the middle river is only a very short
stretch (in the limit of a point), but for practical
purposes the longest part of a river is often
regarded as middle river.
 As stated before, the upper reach is normally
diluvial, the middle and lower reaches are
classified as alluvial reaches.
LONGITUDINAL PROFILE
STREAM FORM AND
CLASSIFICATIONS

Rivers can be broadly classified in terms of channel

patterns based upon configuration as viewed on a map or
from the air.
Channel pattern describes the plan form of a
channel.
In many cases, a stream will change pattern within
its length.
The plan form deformation is controlled in nature
by lithology and its variation along the river length,
slope, discharge and sediment load variation during the
flood, outside controls and human intervention.
STREAM FORM AND
CLASSIFICATIONS
THE STRAIGHT RIVER
A straight channel can be defined as one
that does not follow a sinuous course.
The straight channel can be defined as the
stretch of the river which has sinuosity less than
1.5 (sinuosity is the ratio of channel length to
valley length.)
THE STRAIGHT RIVER
 Sinuosity varies from a value of unity
for a straight reach to a value of three or
more.
 A sinuosity of 1.5 is usually taken as
the dividing line between meandering and
straight channels.
 It can also be defined as the transition
between meandering and braiding and
have normally a meandering channel
constricted between the relatively straight
banks of the high water channel.
THE STRAIGHT RIVER
 In this type, although a river may have a
relatively straight alignment, its thalweg (or
flow path of greatest depth along the
channel) usually wanders back and forth
from one bank to the other.
 This type of the plan form is mainly
attributed to outside controls (examples of
the outside controls are valley wall,
protection work, development on the top of
islands, infrastructures, towns, limestone
banks and mountains) which sometimes
results in internal movements grab the
thalweg line to sweep from side to side inside
the channel.
THE MEANDERING RIVER
 The most common channel pattern is the
meandering stream.
 A meandering channel is one that is formed by a
series of alternating changes in direction, or
bends.
 The meandering river consists of a number of
consecutive bends and giving an S-shaped
appearance to the plan view of the river although
sometimes these bends are stable, there is
generally a tendency, due to hilicoidal flow for
scour to occur at the outer bend and
sedimentation at the inner bend.
THE MEANDERING RIVER
 Thus the bends tend to develop to such an
extent that eventually a short cut occurs.
 In aerial photographs the old meanders
and short cuts are often clearly visible.
 From an engineering point of view,
meandering rivers are more predictable,
than braiding rivers and they normally
have one relatively deep channel.
 A meandering river can be described by a
number of characteristics through
geometrical relations to express its
features.
THE MEANDERING RIVER
 The meandering river consists of a series
of deep pools in the bends and shallow
crossings in the short straight reach
connecting the bends.
 The thalweg flows from a pool through a
crossing to the next pool forming the
typical S-curve of a single meander loop.
 A meandering channel is one that consists
of alternate bends.
 As the thalweg, changes from side to side
within the channel, the momentum of the
flow affects the cross-sectional geometry of
the stream.
THE MEANDERING RIVER
 In bends, there is a concentration of flow
due to centrifugal forces.
 This causes the depth to increase at the
outside of the bend, and this area is
known as a pool.
 As the thalweg again changes sides below
a bend, it crosses the centerline of the
channel.
 This area is known as the riffle or
crossing.
THE MEANDERING RIVER
 One of the main causes of the meandering
process is the slight departures from
symmetry of flow and bank erosion which
tend to deviate the bulk of the flow to one
side or the other of the channel.
 There also appears to be some connection
between the longitudinal slope of the stream
and the intensity of the meandering; field
measurements have shown that slopes of
meandering streams generally are very mild.
 A general characteristic of all meandering
watercourses is the migration of the bends
downstream and under certain circumstances
even laterally.
THE MEANDERING RIVER
THE THALWEG
Is defined as the line connecting
the deepest points in the channel
PLAN VIEW AND CROSS SECTION OF A TYPICAL
MEANDERING STREAM
MEANDER GEOMETRICAL CHARACTERISTICS
1- Radius of curvature (r): generally the river forms a
series of regular sinusoidal curves with an average
radius of 2.3 to 2.7 times the bank full width (Newbury
and Gaboury 1993).

2- Meander Wavelength (λ): A full meander wavelength

is the distance between two similar points along the
channel between which waveform is complete.
MEANDER GEOMETRICAL CHARACTERISTICS
3- Sinuosity (Р): is the ratio of channel length along the
center line of the channel to the length of the valley
measured along the center of the meander belt or center
of the valley.
4- Arc angle (θ): the angle swept out by the radius of
curvature between adjacent inflexion points.
5- Meander arc length (Z): the distance measured along
the meander path between repeating (inflexion) points.
6- Amplitude (a): width of meander belt measured
perpendicular to the valley or straight line axis.
MEANDER BENDS
Three types of bends can be
defined ,
1. Free
2. limited, and
3. forced bends.
 The first type, the free bend is usually
associated with broad flood plains consisting of
relatively erodible material.
 In this type, the river bends follow the curves of
the valley so that each river bend includes a
promontory of the parent plateau.
 It is found that this type is not disturbed by the
external factors and experienced the highest
degree of freedom to form the bend shape.
MEANDER BENDS
 The second type is the limited bend.
 In this type, the bend cut into solid rock or
hard strata in deep gorges and exhibit
meandering pattern similar to that of rivers
in flood plains.
 In this type of bends, the banks of the
channel are composed of consolidated parent
material that limits the lateral erosion.
 Such rivers are called incised rivers and
these bends are called incised bends or
entrenched bends.
 However, no much information about the
origin of incised bends is found.
MEANDER BENDS
 The third type of bends is the forced bend.
 In this type the channel is highly restricted
from external movements.
 The bank line movements are mainly
controlled by either natural or man made
activities.
 Sometimes in this type the river impinges
onto an almost straight parent bank at large
angle (600 to 900).
 The free bend has the smallest sinuosity and
arc angle.
 Next in values is the limited bend followed by
the forced bend to some extend.
THE BRAIDING RIVER
A braided river is generally wide
with poorly defined and unstable
banks, and is characterized by a
steep, shallow water course with
multiple channel divisions around
alluvial islands.
 The braiding river can have several
more or less parallel branches which
are not fixed but tend to change
alignment continually.
THE BRAIDING RIVER
The division of the discharge
between the different branches
also tends to change.
The braiding river has many
disadvantages, being less stable
and less predictable than
meandering rivers.
THE BRAIDING RIVER
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF BRAIDED CHANNEL:
1) wide
2) banks are poorly defined and unstable
3) two or more channels
4) sand bars are found between sub-
channels
5) sand bars and sub-channels change
their position very rapidly
6) often steep slopes with large
suspensions
7) sediment overload
THE TWO PRIMARY CAUSES BELIEVED TO
BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BRAIDED
CONDITION ARE:
(1) overloading, that is, the
stream may be supplied with
more sediment than it can carry
resulting in deposition of part of
the load, and
(2) steep slopes, which produce a
wide shallow channel where bars
and islands form readily.
BRAIDED RIVERS
 Ifthe channel is overloaded with
sediment, deposition occurs, the bed
aggrades, and the slope of the channel
increases in an effort to maintain a
graded condition.
 As the channel steepness, the velocity
increases; multiple channels develop and
cause the overall channel to widen.
 The multiple channels, which form when
bars of sediment accumulate within the
main channel, are generally unstable and
change positions with both time and
stage.
BRAIDED RIVERS
 Another cause of braiding is easily eroding
banks.
 If the banks are easily eroded, the stream
widens at high flow and at low flow bars form
which become stabilized, forming islands.
 In general, a braided channel has a steep slope,
a large bed material load in comparison to its
suspended load, and relatively small amounts
of silts and clays in the bed and banks.
 The braided stream is difficult to work with in
that it is unstable, changes its alignment
rapidly, carries large quantities of sediment, is
very wide and shallow even at flood flow and is,
in general, unpredictable.
BRAIDED RIVERS
 Leopold and Wolman (1957) investigated
many rivers and found empirically that
some rivers are braided and some others
are meanders is attributed to a large
extent the channel slope and the
discharge.
 He related the channel slope Si and bank
full discharge Qb to classify the pattern.
BRAIDED RIVERS
 It would seem that the relationship
separates rivers that were braided (found
plotted above the relationship) from
meandering rivers (found plotted below
the relationship - See Figure).
 Ramsahoye in 1992 gave a rise to the
following relationship
BRAIDED RIVERS
 For straight channel:

 For meandering channel:

RELATIONSHIP FOR RIVER
CLASSIFICATIONS
CROSS SECTIONS OF RIVERS
 The thalweg, defined as the line
connecting the deepest points in the
channel, is indicated in Figure below.
 At the crossing between two bends the
thalweg is not the deepest point of the
cross section, but the point that occurs
between the deepest points in the
upstream and downstream bends.
 In a braided river each branch separately
tends to form sections similar to those in a
single meandering channel.
CROSS SECTIONS OF RIVERS
 As the discharge and, therefore, the water
level of a river varies, one can distinguish
between a low water channel and a high
water channel, with flood plains separated
by natural levees from the main flow
channel (Figure below).
 The flood plain generally fills rapidly
when natural levees are overtopped
during extreme high levels, but drains
only slowly via small channels through
the natural levees.
CROSS SECTIONS OF RIVERS
 Back swamps may then be formed, due to
the slow drainage.
 Note: In alluvial rivers the width/depth
ratio is in the order of 100.
 The low sinuosity and high width/depth
ratio place the river in the bed load
category (Schumm 1977).
CROSS SECTIONS OF RIVERS
 Bed load stream have width/depth ratios
greater than 40, sinuosity is less than
about 1.3, and bed load (sand and gravel)
is greater than about 10% of the total
sediment load.
 On a sketch of a cross section with a
natural scale very little can be seen and
distorted scales are therefore used.
 It should always be remembered that the
cross sections and longitudinal profiles of
rivers are in reality very flat.
CROSS SECTIONS OF RIVERS
1.3.3 INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT
VARIABLES
 When describing the river system in
terms of dependent and independent
variables, the natural river system has to
be considered.
 The natural functions of the river system
are to provide drainage of rainfall water
and to evacuate the erosion products from
the river basin.
 When considering the river system as the
system of channels along which the water
and sediment will be evacuated the
independent variables of the system are:
1.3.3 INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT
VARIABLES
 The discharge to be evacuated Q (m3/s)

 Thesediment eroded and to be evacuated

S (m3/day)

 The characteristics of the sediment D (m),

p (kg/m3), ε (porosity)