Chap.

2 Chaudhry - Specific Energy Energy of open channel flow with respect to the channel bottom

specific energy : E = y + v2/2g

depth of flow - y Fr < 1 critical conditions: Fr = 1 y1 Fr > 1 450 v12/2g y2

water depth specific energy equation: E = y + specific flow and depth v
2

y=E

note: for all E values except critical conditions there are 2 sets of y and v which will satisfy the specific energy equation v22/2g

y2 y1 Specific Energy - E

ONLY AT CRITICAL FLOW IS THERE A SINGLE UNIQUE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEPTH AND VELOCITY FOR A GIVEN FLOW

SPECIFIC ENERGY DIAGRAMS FOR SPECIFIC FLOWS y := .05 ft , .06 ft .. 3 ft

2g

however v =

q y

so we can write the S.E. equation in terms of

E ( y , q) := y +

2 2

2 g y

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1.01 0.91 y FLOW DEPTH (FT) ft y ft y ft 0.81 0.71 0.61 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0 0.3 0.6

SPECIFIC ENERGY DIAGRAMS

0.9

1.2

1.5

1.8

2.1

2.4

2.7

gal gal gal E y , 10 E y , 5 E y , 2.5 sec ft sec ft sec ft , , ft ft ft SPECIFIC ENERGY (FT)

q = 10 gal/sec*ft channel width q = 5 gal/sec*ft channel width q = 2.5 gal/sec*ft channel width

Specific energy diagrams are explored more fully below

What a specific energy diagram says : 1. A given flow can have a large number of specific energy values depending on the flow depth and velocity. There is one minimum value of specific energy is called the critical specific energy. It is defined by the red dot on the specific energy curve 2. For any given flow rate there are 2 different sets of depth and velocity which have the same specific energy. a. One of the flow depths (Fr < 1) has most of its energy tied up in depth of flow, see point 2 above b. the other flow depth (Fr > 1) has most of its energy tied up as velocity head, see point 1 above 3. If the flow depth is changed in a channel the specific energy of that flow will change

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4. For any flow there is a combination of depth and velocity that results in a minimum specific energy. Any channel feature which causes the specific energy to drop below this value will necessitate a change in the flow depth and velocity upstream of said feature in order to provide the minimum specific energy at the feature. Such a feature is referred to as a "choke". A practical example of a choke might be a culvert under a roadway or a bridge crossing a stream. The significance of a choke is that it may raise the upstream water surface causing flooding of surrounding land.

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