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Introduction To Gradually Varied Flow

Gradually Varied Flow is defined as steady non-uniform flow in a channel in which there are
gradual changes in the water depth.
For rapidly varied flow (abrupt changes, steps, weirs .etc) the influence of bed slope and channel
friction can be ignored. The assumption holds because the changes take place over a very short
distance. Gradually Varied Flow (GVF) implies that the changes occur over a long distance, in this
context the bed slope and channel friction become very important.
Since So and Sf (where Sf is the slope of the energy line) are coincident for uniform flow (So= Sf
and h = hn, the normal depth), the friction slope can be evaluated using Mannings equation.
Given Q, n and So the solution of Mannings equation results in only one possible flow depth hn.

Consider the situation above. By assuming the change in energy with distance is equal to the
frictional losses it can be shown that.

Furthermore for a rectangular channel the equation becomes

this equation is known as the GVF equation. dh/dx is the water surface slope, on the diagram on
the previous page is negative (this is the normal convention).

Related Topics
Steady Uniform Flow
Energy Principle

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