Hydrologic Science and Engineering

Civil and Environmental Engineering Department

Fort Collins, CO 80523-1372
(970) 491-7621
CIVE322 BASIC HYDROLOGY
Example Kinematic Wave

A rectangular channel of width B = 200 ft is 24000 feet long, has a bed slope of So = 0.01
and a Mannings roughness factor n = 0.035. The inflow hydrograph to the channel is tabulated
below. Implement a linear finite-difference solution of the kinematic wave equations to route the
inflow hydrograph to the end of the channel. The initial conditions correspond to uniform flow
along the channel at a rate of 2000 cfs. Use a t of 3 min (180 sec) and a x of 3000 ft.

Inflow Time Inflow Rate

(min) (cfs)
0 2000
12 2000
24 3000
36 4000
48 5000
60 6000
72 5000
84 4000
96 3000
108 2000
120 2000

As discussed in class, for a kinematic wave, the momentum equation reduces to,

So = S f (1)

implying that the energy grade line is parallel to the channel bottom, and that the flow is steady
and uniform. The above momentum equation can be shown to be equivalent to the following
relationship between discharge, Q, and area of flow, A,

A = !Q" (2)

which, for example, can be satisfied by Manning equation,

Sf
Q= R 2 / 3 A (if using metric units) (3a)
n

1.49 S f
Q= R 2/3 A (if using English units) (3b)
n

which can be rearranged as,

 nP 2/3 3/5 3/5 nP 2/3 3/5 3/5
A =[ ] Q or A = [ ] Q
Sf 1.49 S f

Thus, as shown in class,

nP 2/3 3/5 nP 2/3 3/5

! =[ ] or ! = [ ] and " = 3 / 5 = 0.6 (4)
Sf 1.49 S f

Together with the continuity equation,

Q A
+ =q (5)
x t
these equations represent the kinematic wave flow routing approach.

If an observer moves with the kinematic wave at a speed equal to the kinematic wave
celerity, the observer would see the flow rate increase at a rate equal to the lateral inflow rate, q,
as shown below,

dQ Q Q dt Q 1 Q
= + = + =q (6)
dx x t dx x c k t

It can be seen that for conditions of no lateral inflow, that is, for q = 0, dQ/dx = 0. Thus,
kinematic waves do not attenuate; they simply translate downstream without dissipation. Given
that at any cross section Q and A are functionally related as A = Q, the continuity equation can
be rewritten as,
!Q dA !Q
+ =q (7)
!x dQ !t

and,
! A dA ! Q !Q !Q !Q
= = "# Q # !1 ( ) or + "# Q # !1 ( ) = q (8)
! t dQ ! t !t !x !t

For the linear solution, the equation is linearized by substituting an average of known
solutions for the coefficient of the nonlinear term. This leads to the following solution,
j+1
Qi+1 ! Qij+1 j
Qi+1 + Qij+1 " !1 Qi+1
j+1
! Qi+1
j j+1
qi+1 + qi+1
j
+ !" ( ) ( )=( ) (9)
"x 2 "t 2

!t j+1 j
Qi+1 + Qij+1 " "1 j j+1
qi+1 + qi+1
j
[ Qi + !" ( ) Qi+1 + !t( )]
j+1
Qi+1 = !x 2 2 (10)
!t Q j + Qij+1 " "1
[ + !" ( i+1 ) ]
!x 2
In this linear solution, the subscript refers to the space coordinate and the superscript refers to the
time coordinate. The solution advances on a time line from upstream to downstream.

The table below is the application of Equation 10 to route the hydrograph given above.

Solving equation 3 for the flow depth, it can be shown that the flow depth, y, corresponding to Q
= 5000 cfs is 2.92 ft. That is, the solution of

1.49 0.01 200y

5000 = [ ]200y
0.035 200 + 2y

is y = 2.92 ft. Therefore, y << B, and we have a wide rectangular channel. Thus, equation 4 yields,

nP 2/3 3/5 0.035* 200 2/3 3/5

! =[ ] = [ ] = 3.49 and " = 3 / 5 = 0.6
1.49 S f 1.49 0.01

Using these values of and in equation 10 yields the solution tabulated below and shown in the
figure.

Hydrograph Routing
Linear Kinematic Wave Solution
6000

5500

5000

4500
Discharge (cfs)

4000

3500

3000

2500

2000
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Time (min)
 Distance (ft)
i 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
j Time (min) 0.00 3000.00 6000.00 9000.00 12000.00 15000.00 18000.00 21000.00 24000.00
1 0.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00
2 3.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00
3 6.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00
4 9.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00
5 12.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00 2000.00
6 15.00 2250.00 2095.10 2035.84 2013.46 2005.05 2001.89 2000.71 2000.27 2000.10
7 18.00 2500.00 2252.11 2118.29 2053.06 2023.10 2009.85 2004.14 2001.72 2000.71
8 21.00 2750.00 2449.21 2246.43 2126.83 2062.33 2029.60 2013.70 2006.21 2002.77
9 24.00 3000.00 2671.78 2414.12 2237.91 2129.31 2067.33 2033.89 2016.61 2007.96
10 27.00 3250.00 2910.08 2613.43 2385.47 2228.22 2128.69 2069.77 2036.63 2018.73
11 30.00 3500.00 3157.74 2836.39 2565.83 2360.50 2218.07 2126.30 2070.57 2038.26
12 33.00 3750.00 3410.71 3076.07 2773.72 2525.11 2338.06 2207.84 2122.87 2070.28
13 36.00 4000.00 3666.47 3326.85 3003.28 2719.00 2489.26 2317.56 2197.74 2118.81
14 39.00 4250.00 3923.53 3584.54 3248.85 2937.76 2670.32 2457.11 2298.63 2187.87
15 42.00 4500.00 4181.01 3846.16 3505.54 3176.42 2878.27 2626.44 2427.92 2281.06
16 45.00 4750.00 4438.44 4109.73 3769.39 3430.01 3109.04 2823.84 2586.50 2401.18
48.00 5000.00 4695.59 4373.97 4037.40 3694.08 3358.06 3046.23 2773.74 2549.88
51.00 5250.00 4952.35 4638.13 4307.47 3964.94 3620.74 3289.63 2987.53 2727.41
54.00 5500.00 5208.68 4901.80 4578.17 4239.69 3892.97 3549.64 3224.59 2932.56
57.00 5750.00 5464.61 5164.77 4848.64 4516.25 4171.25 3821.94 3480.90 3162.79
60.00 6000.00 5720.14 5426.96 5118.35 4793.19 4452.87 4102.63 3752.15 3414.58
63.00 5750.00 5734.39 5572.87 5332.12 5043.74 4723.80 4382.94 4031.72 3682.72
66.00 5500.00 5623.00 5596.68 5457.12 5237.42 4961.75 4647.42 4308.54 3958.98
69.00 5250.00 5446.94 5525.77 5489.59 5356.11 5145.82 4877.47 4567.53 4231.52
72.00 5000.00 5237.77 5390.12 5442.64 5396.89 5263.55 5057.02 4792.63 4485.96
75.00 4750.00 5011.67 5213.16 5334.79 5367.66 5312.46 5176.38 4970.44 4707.91
78.00 4500.00 4776.97 5010.96 5183.55 5281.31 5297.84 5233.26 5092.83 4885.61
81.00 4250.00 4537.99 4793.83 5002.94 5151.46 5229.33 5231.42 5157.53 5011.80
84.00 4000.00 4296.98 4568.17 4803.25 4990.17 5117.92 5178.41 5167.28 5084.16
87.00 3750.00 4055.15 4337.84 4591.61 4807.06 4974.02 5083.33 5128.15 5104.65
90.00 3500.00 3813.15 4105.19 4372.82 4609.41 4806.51 4955.28 5047.85 5078.23
93.00 3250.00 3571.39 3871.66 4150.04 4402.46 4622.47 4802.40 4934.41 5011.53
96.00 3000.00 3330.12 3638.14 3925.36 4189.90 4427.34 4631.48 4795.29 4911.69
99.00 2750.00 3089.55 3405.24 3700.18 3974.33 4225.12 4447.97 4636.97 4785.57
102.00 2500.00 2849.88 3173.41 3475.44 3757.54 4018.76 4256.05 4464.79 4639.32
105.00 2250.00 2611.29 2943.02 3251.85 3540.82 3810.39 4058.90 4283.03 4478.15
108.00 2000.00 2374.04 2714.45 3029.98 3325.13 3601.58 3858.93 4095.03 4306.36
111.00 2000.00 2230.74 2523.49 2824.39 3116.93 3395.89 3658.93 3903.81 4127.59
114.00 2000.00 2143.07 2375.41 2644.98 2923.68 3198.30 3462.51 3712.54 3945.15
117.00 2000.00 2088.99 2265.13 2495.28 2750.80 3013.67 3273.63 3524.58 3762.29
120.00 2000.00 2055.46 2185.04 2374.44 2600.93 2845.70 3095.91 3343.26 3582.15

The shaded cells above indicate the known values (in blue) for every application of equation 10
in order to compute the discharge at the end of the time step and the downstream end of the
subreach (in green).

For example, for j = 5, and i = 1, equation 10 is:

!t 6 Q 5 + Q16 " "1 5 q 6 + q25

[Q1 + !" ( 2 ) Q2 + !t( 2 )]
Q2 =
6 !x 2 2
!t Q25 + Q16 " "1
[ + !" ( ) ]
!x 2

= 3.49, = 0.6, t =180 s, and x = 3000 ft. In addition, Q1 = 2250 Q2 = 2000 q2 = 0 q2 = 0 ;

6 5 6 5

these values yield Q26 = 2095.10 . The integration proceeds by increasing i until the end of the
reach, and then resetting i to 1 and increasing j.