The thesis deals with values of overfall discharge coefficients for commonly used types of low weirs. Comparison of their values with values based on established procedures. Determination of low weir capacity at free and submerged overfall.

The characteristics of the subcritical, critical and supercritical flows at the rectangular free overfall were studied experimentally to obtain a relation between the brink depth and the flow rate. A series of experiments were conducted in a tilting flume with wide range of flow rate and two bed roughness in order to find the relationship between the brink depth, normal depth, channel bed slope and bed roughnesses. An equation was proposed to calculate the flow rate if only the brink depth, roughness, and channel bed slope are known. An alternate iterative solution was offered to calculate discharges if the brink depth and uniform flow depth are known.

In recent years, artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been applied to estimate in many areas of hydrology and hydraulic engineering. In this thesis, multilayered feedforward backpropagation algorithm was used to establish for the prediction of unit discharge q (m3/s/m) in a rectangular free overfall. Researchers&rsquo / experimental data were used to train and validate the network with high reliability. First, an appropriate ANN model has been established by considering determination of hidden layer and node numbers related to training function and training epoch number. Then by applying sensitivity analysis, parameters involved in and their effectiveness relatively has been determined in the phenomenon. In the scope of the thesis, there are two case studies. In the first case study, ANN models reliability has been investigated according to the training data clustered and the results are given by comparing to regression analysis. In the second case, ANN models&rsquo / ability in establishing relations with different data clusters is investigated and effectiveness of ANN is scrutinized.

The advance in computational fluid dynamics in recent years has provided the opportunity for many fluid dynamic problems to be analyzed numerically. One such problem concerns the modeling of plunging water into a still water body, often encountered in pump stations. Air bubbles introduced into the system by the plunging jet can be a significant problem, especially when consumed into operating pumps. The classical approach to investigate the hydrodynamics of plunging jet in pump stations is by physical model studies. This approach is time consuming, tedious and costly. The availability of computational power today, along with appropriate numerical techniques, allows such phenomenon to be studied in a greater level of detail and more cost efficient. Despite the advantages of numerical studies, little attention has been devoted to solve the plunging jet and air transport problem numerically. In this current work, a 3-dimensional finite volume, Large Eddy Simulation (LES) code is developed to simulate these flow conditions. For turbulent flow, the large scale quantities were numerically resolved while the dynamic sub-grid scale model is used to model the small scale energy dissipations. The code also has the capability to handle free surface deformation, an important aspect in simulating the impact section of an impinging jet. Modeling of the air entrainment is performed numerically utilizing the information obtained from the hydrodynamics. Migration of air bubbles is modeled using the scalar transport equation, modified to account for the buoyancy of the bubbles. Instead of the typical Lagrangian schemes, which track individual air bubbles, air bubble dynamics are modeled in the form of concentrations. Modeling air bubbles in this manner is computational efficient and simpler to implement. For the air entrainment simulations, standard numerical boundaries conditions and empirical entrainment equations are used to provide the necessary boundary conditions. The developed model is compared with the literature, producing satisfactory results, suggesting that the code has an excellent potential of extending its application to practical industry practices.

The flow characteristics of the subcritical and supercritical flows over a free overfall in a rectangular channel are studied experimentally. A series of experiments were conducted in a tilting flume with a wide range of flow rate. Data collected by several researchers are also included. An empirical relationship, which gives the flow rate as a function of the brink depth, the channel bed slope and the bed roughness are confirmed by using data collected in present study. In addition, the behaviors of the ratio of the brink depth to the critical depth according to several flow parameters are examined. Further, the location of the critical depth in subcritical flows while flow is approaching to the fall is investigated. It is concluded that the location of the critical depth in subcritical flow is a function of the Froude number, channel bed slope and the Manning roughness coefficient. The resemblance or the difference in the occurrence of the profile in sub and supercritical flows examined.