Unsteady Flow

Surges in Open Channel

Dr. Shahid Ali

Professor & HOD
Civil Engineering Department
NUCES-FAST Lahore
Types of surges
The rapidly-varied transient phenomenon in an open channel, commonly known under
the general term surge, occurs wherever there is a sudden change in the discharge or
depth or both. Such situations occur, for example, during the sudden closure of a gate.
A surge producing an increase in depth is called positive surge and the one which
causes a decrease in depth is known as negative surge.

Further, a surge can travel either in the upstream or downstream direction, thus giving
rise to four basic types. Positive waves generally have steep fronts–sometimes rollers
also –and are stable. Consequently they can be considered to be uniformly progressive
waves. When the height of a positive surge is small, it can have an undular front.
Negative surges, on the hand, are unstable and their form changes with the advance of
the surge. Being a rapidly varied flow phenomenon, friction is usually neglected in the
simple analysis of surges.
/1.52)^
 Problem
1
.
Example
A 3.0-m wide rectangular channel has a flow of 3.60 m3/s with a velocity of 0.8 m/s. If
a sudden release of additional flow at the upstream end of the channel causes the depth
to rise by 50 percent, determine the absolute velocity of the resulting surge and the new
flow rate.
Solution The flow is shown in Fig. (a). The surge moves in the downstream direction
and the absolute velocity of the wave Vw is positive. By superposing (−Vw) on the
system the equivalent steady flow is obtained (Fig. (b)).
For a positive surge moving downstream in a rectangular channel.
Example A rectangular channel carries a flow with a velocity of 0.65 m/s and depth of
1.40 m. If the discharge is abruptly increased threefold by a sudden lifting of a gate on the
upstream, estimate the velocity and the height of the resulting surge.

Solution The absolute velocity of the surge is Vw along the downstream direction. By
superimposing a velocity (−Vw) on the system, a steady flow is simulated as
shown in Fig.
For a positive surge moving in the downstream direction.

Height of surge
Positive Surge Moving Upstream
Figure shows a positive surge moving upstream. This kind of surge occurs on the
upstream of a sluice gate when the gate is closed suddenly and in the phenomenon of
tidal bores. The unsteady flow is converted into an equivalent steady flow by the
superposition of a velocity Vw directed downstream. As before, suffixes 1 and 2 refer to
conditions at sections of the channel before and after the passage of the surge,
respectively.

(a)Positive surge moving upstream

(b) Simulated steady flow
 Continuity Equation

Momentum equation

From Eqs, two of the five variables y1 , y2 , V1, V2 and Vw can be determined if the three other
variables are given. It is to be remembered that in real flow Vw is directed upstream. The velocity
V2 however may be directed upstream or downstream depending on the nature of the bore
phenomenon.
 Moving Hydraulic Jump
The Type-1 and Type-2 surges viz. positive surges moving downstream and moving
upstream respectively are often termed moving hydraulic jumps in view of their
similarity to a steady state hydraulic jump in horizontal channels

1. For Type-1 surge (surge moving downstream) Vr1 = (Vw–V1)

2. For Type-2 surge (surge moving upstream) Vr1 = (Vw+V1)

Energy Loss in Hydraulic Jump

Moving hydraulic jump
 RAPIDLY VARIED UNSTEADY FLOW – NEGATIVE SURGES
Celerity and Stability of the Surge
The velocity of the surge relative to the initial flow velocity in the canal is known as
the celerity of the surge, Cs. Thus for the surge moving downstream Cs=Vw–V1 and
for the surge moving upstream Cs=Vw+V1. From above Eqs. it is seen that in both
the cases

For a wave of very small height y2 → y1 and dropping suffixes, 𝐶 = √𝑔𝑦 a result
which has been used earlier.
Consider a surge moving downstream. If the surge is considered to be made up of
a large number of elementary surges of very small height piled one over the other,
for each of these 𝑉𝑤 = 𝑉1 + √𝑔𝑦 . Consider the top of the surge, (point M in Fig.).
This point moves faster than the bottom of the surge, (point N in Fig.). This causes
the top to overtake the lower portions and in this process the flow tumbles down
on to the wave front to form a roller of stable shape. Thus the profile of a positive
surge is stable and its shape is preserved.
In a negative surge, by a similar argument, a point M on the top of the surge moves
faster than a point on the lower water surface (Fig.). This results in the stretching
of the wave profile. The shape of the negative surge at various time intervals will
be different and as such the analysis used in connection with positive surges will not
be applicable.
For channels of small lengths, the simple analysis of a horizontal frictionless channel
gives reasonably good results. However, when the channel length and slope are large,
friction and slope effects have to be properly accounted for in a suitable way.
Further, changes in the geometry, such as the cross-sectional shape, break in grade and
junctions along the channel influence the propagation of surges. A good account of the
effect of these factors is available in literature.
 Elementary Negative Wave
Since the shape of a negative surge varies with time due to the stretching of the profile
by varying values of Vw along its height, for purposes of analysis the negative surge is
considered to be composed of a series of elementary negative wavelets of celerity √gy
superimposed on the existing flow.
Consider one such elementary negative wave of height δy .The motion is converted to
an equivalent steady-state flow by the superimposition of a velocity (–Vw ) on the
system. The resulting steady flow is indicated in Fig. The continuity and momentum
equations are applied to a control volume by considering the channel to be
rectangular, horizontal and frictionless.

Continuity Equation
(a) Elementary negative wave (b) Equivalent steady flow
 Momentum Balance
By applying the momentum equation to a control volume enclosing the Sections 1 and 2
in the direction of equivalent steady flow

Introducing the notation as above and neglecting the product of small quantities the
momentum equation simplifies to

C = celerity of the elemental at

negative wave.

Above equation is the basic differential equation governing a simple negative wave
which on integration with proper boundary conditions enables the determination of the
characteristics of a negative wave.
 Negative Wave Moving Downstream
Consider a sluice gate in a wide rectangular channel passing a flow with a velocity of
V1 and a normal depth of flow of y1 in the channel downstream of the gate. Consider the
sluice gate to partially close instantaneously. Let the new velocity and depth of flow at
the gate be V0 and y0 respectively. The closure action of the gate would cause a negative
wave to form on the downstream channel (Type 3 wave) and the wave would move in
the downstream direction
as shown in Fig. The velocity V and depth y at any position x from the gate is obtained
by integrating the basic differential equation of a simple negative wave.
For the negative wave moving downstream, positive sign is adopted and the resulting
basic differential equation is
If the gate movement is instantaneous at
t = 0, with reference to the co-ordinates
shown in Fig., Vw is in the direction of
positive x and hence the profile of the

Equation is the expression for

the profile of the negative
wave in terms of x, y and t.
This equation is valid for the
values of y between y0 and y1.
Substituting in Eq., the value
of gy obtained previous eq.
from,
 Negative Wave Moving Upstream
Figure shows a negative surge produced by instantaneous raising of a sluice gate located
at the downstream end of a horizontal, frictionless channel. Type-4 negative wave which
starts at the gate is shown moving upstream.
Integrating the basic differential equation, The relationship between the velocity and
depth is obtained as

Using suffixes 1 and 2 to denote conditions before and after the passage of the wave
respectively, and using the boundary condition V = V1 at y = y1
Note that the negative sign of Eq. has been used in
deriving Eq. This is done to obtain positive values of V
for all relevant values of depth y. The celerity of the
wave C in this case is

With reference to the co-ordinate system shown in Fig., the wave velocity Vw is
negative in major part of the wave and positive in the lower depths. Considering

The profile of the negative wave is given by

 Dam Break Problem
A particular case of the above Type-4 negative surge is the situation with V1= 0. This
situation models the propagation of a negative wave on the upstream due to
instantaneous complete lifting of a control gate at a reservoir. This ideal sudden
release of flow from a reservoir simulates the sudden breaking of a dam holding up
a reservoir and as such this problem is known as Dam Break problem.
Figure shows the flow situation due to sudden release of water from an impounding
structure. This is a special case of Type-4 wave with V1 = 0. The coordinate system
used is : x = 0 and y = 0 at the bottom of the gate; x is positive in the downstream
direction from the gate and negative in the upstream direction from the gate; y is
positive vertically upwards.

Dam break Problem

 The velocity at any section is

The water surface profile of the negative wave is

The profile is a concave upwards parabola. The conditions at the gate are interesting.
At the gate, x = 0 and using the suffix 0 to indicate the values at the gate

Note that y0 is independent of time

and as such is constant. The salient
features of the wave profile are as
follows:
 The velocity at the gate V0 by

The discharge intensity

which is also independent of time t.

Note that the flow is being analyzed in a horizontal frictionless channel and as such
the depth y1 with V1= 0 represents the specific energy, E. At the gate axis (x = 0)

Critical depth

Also at x = 0, the Froude number of the flow

Thus the flow at the gate axis is critical and the discharge maximum. Further, it is easy
to see that upstream of the gate the flow is sub-critical and on the downstream of the
gate (for positive values of x) the flow is supercritical.
This simple ideal analysis of a sudden release from an impounding structure is found
to give satisfactory results for a major part of the profile. However, in real situation the
downstream end is found to have a rounded positive wave instead of the parabolic
profile with its vertex on the x-axis. In actual dam break the tapered leading edge of
the ideal profile is modified due to action of ground friction to cause a positive surge
to move downstream.
 Partial lifting of Downstream Gate
A variation of the dam break problem is the case of partial instantaneous lifting of the
downstream gate from initial closed position. A simple case of a sluice gate in a
rectangular channel of width B is analyzed as follows.
Consider the sluice gate to be suddenly raised by an amount a from an initial closed position. If
4
𝑎 ≥ 𝑦1 , then it amounts to full raised position as indicated in the previous section and the
9
4
analysis is that of the dam break problem. However, if 𝑎 < 𝑦1 , then it is partial closure and
9
an analysis for such a case is given below.

Partial lifting of downstream gate

 Refer to Fig. Before the operation of the gate, the water upstream of the gate is at
rest at a depth yl. The gate is lifted instantaneously, and partially, so that h0 =
drawdown at the gate. A negative wave produced by this action travels upstream
with a wave velocity Vw and a forward flow velocity V is created. Since V1 = 0,

At x = 0 y0 = ( y1 –h0 ) and velocity V= V0

The discharge Q0 = By0V0 which is constant as V0 and y0 do not change with time. Q0
can be expressed in terms of h0 and y1 for substituting for y0 and V0, as

On simplification, an expression for the discharge can be obtained in non-dimensional

form as

Wave Profile: The profile of the negative wave at any time t is given as

where y = depth of flow at any (x, t).

Example
Example
Example
Example