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Student Number : 0100281N - MSc(Eng) Research Report - School of Civil and Environmental Engineering - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / Many environmental and engineering projects require prediction of the velocity of flow in river channels, in terms of those channel properties and flow characteristics which induce resisting forces or an energy loss to the flow. Relationships such as the Manning, Chézy and Darcy-Weisbach equations have been in use for a century or more. All of them account for resistance with a single coefficient of resistance, and the central problem is evaluation of this coefficient. Experimental results by different researchers have shown that Manning’s n varies strongly with the ratio of flow depth to roughness height. It is constant for values of this ratio above about 4, but increases significantly for lower values. This suggests that the equation is not suitable in its original form for the case of intermediate-scale roughness. The roughness is intermediate-scale if the relative submergence ratio of flow depth to roughness elements height lies between 1 and 4. The influence of the roughness elements on flow resistance in this regime is caused by a combination of both element drag and boundary shear, or friction. The results of an experimental study with hemispherical roughness elements are presented, showing how the roughness element size, spacing and pattern influence flow resistance. For the range of conditions tested, Manning’s n appears to depend on roughness element size, spacing and pattern.

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Implementation of the National Water Act in South Africa requires that an ecological Reserve be determined for all significant resources. The ecological Reserve determination is the estimation of the amount of water required to maintain the system in a particular ecological condition. Because aquatic habitats are defined in terms of local hydraulic variables rather than amounts of water, hydraulic analysis provides a crucial link in relating hydrological conditions and river ecosystem integrity. Over the last decade, considerable effort has been devoted to developing hydraulics for the Reserve determination. The hydraulics needs for Reserve determination are primarily for low flow analysis, and appropriate methods still need to be developed. This thesis deals with hydraulics under low flow conditions. Its emphasis is on developing appropriate methods for describing the hydraulic characteristics of South African rivers under conditions of low discharge, and the influence of vegetation and large bed roughness. The following methods have been developed: · A new equation for prediction of overall flow resistance under large-scale roughness, and a new approach for estimation of intermediate-scale roughness resistance that distinguishes the influences of large and intermediate scale roughness components. · Prediction methods for velocity distributions with large roughness elements. Under low flows, rocks and boulders may control the local velocity and depth distributions. Distributions of velocities and depth are related to rapidly spatially varied flow caused by the boundary geometry rather than flow resistance phenomena. With increasing discharge, the multiple local controls become submerged and the flow tends towards a resistance controlled condition. Available information addressing the distinction between resistance controlled and multiple local controls conditions is limited. This thesis contributes to understanding the transformation between multiple local controls and the resistance controlled conditions. · Practical conveyance prediction methods for three situations pertaining to the occurrence of vegetation in rivers and wetlands. In-channel and riparian vegetation makes an important contribution to the creation of physical habitats for aquatic animals, but also has significant effects on flow resistances that need to be predicted.

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Invasive aquatic species such as Hydrilla verticillata (hydrilla) have become a pervasive and nearly ineradicable part of the waterways of the American south. Hydrilla is an aggressive colonizer; grows rapidly and rapidly blocks flow areas, which greatly reduces the capacity of water supply canals. Hydrilla grows up through the water column and is present throughout flow zones that are typically assumed to be free flowing and without resistance, other than that transmitted via the mechanics of a Newtonian fluid. Hydrilla is highly flexible and its morphology in the flow field is dependent on many parameters, including flow, growth stage, cross-section geometry and substrate. Traditional methods of calculating canal flow capacities assume that resistance to flow originates at the boundary of the channel. These methods typically attempt to account for vegetation by increasing resistance coefficients, which are associated with the boundary of the canal. A combination of field studies and experimentation in three separate laboratory channels was used to characterize the behavior of hydrilla and its impacts on open-channel flow. This work developed relationships for energy losses of flow within the vegetation, as well as velocity gradients within the vegetation and through the vegetation water interface to the open water. The information developed in this investigation was used to develop a model of the cross-section of flow with vegetation growing in the center of the channel. The model is based on the Prandtlvon Kármán universal-velocity-distribution law; and uses modifications to the method of calculating the hydraulic radius, to account for the increased frictional elements and reduced flow areas in the canal cross-section. A simple function was developed to estimate the remaining flow capacity in a canal as a function of the remaining unblocked area. The Prandtl-von Kármán universal-velocity-distribution law, together with modifications to the method for calculating the hydraulic radius, can improve estimates of the flow in channels impacted by submerged aquatic vegetation. The effects of a broad range of parameters can thus be represented by a relatively simple function, which was developed in this project.