Cuyahoga River Pre- and Post-Construction Channel Modelling

Megan Bowman Project Report 2

Abstract
In this project, the Cuyahoga River at Independence was modeled using an eight-point
trapezoidal channel to simulate flow and create a pre- and post-construction rating curve. The
pre-construction river model was manipulated while utilizing USGS data and Google Earth to
create a realistic system to simulate the flows. USGS data from the gauge at the river location
and Google Earth measurement tools were used to determine the river depth, total river width,
and river slope used in the model. The modeling of this system was possible using Manning’s
equation to build the rating curve. The manipulation of other parameters discussed in this
report that are used in the model allowed the creation of a simulated rating curve that was a
good fit for the published rating curve from USGS. This calibrated model was then subjected to
an engineering project affecting the geometry of the river and the hydraulic effects were
analyzed. The USGS gauge data was used to determine two design flows that will be used in the
analysis of the hydraulic effects of the post-construction geometric changes to the river model
compared to the pre-construction. The results of this analysis will inform whether this project is
feasible in the real world and the impacts it will have.

Introduction
The Cuyahoga River at Independence Ohio has been chosen for analysis of the hydraulic effects
of an engineering project affecting the geometry of a section of the river. The results of this
analysis will be used to determine how the construction affects the flow and depth of the river.
To successfully analyze the effects, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) gauge at this location is
used to extract flow data, two design flows, and rating information. The collected data from the
gauge and Google Earth measurement tools will be used to build a hydraulic model of the river
that uses an eight-point cross-section with a flat bottom trapezoidal channel, floodplains on
both sides of the channel, and slopes and roughness for the river at this location. This model is
used to simplify the modeling and represent the river as accurately as possible without having
the exact river geometries. The model created for the river will simulate a pre-construction
rating curve that will be compared to the published USGS rating curve for this location. This
rating curve will be constructed using Manning’s Equation with the geometry, roughness, and
slope of the river. As mentioned previously, the collected data from the gauge at this location
will help build a model that fits the published rating curve as closely as possible while still
maintaining the simplified eight-point geometry. The trapezoidal channel, floodplain, and
roughness will be manipulated in an attempt to do this. These values, however, still need to be

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realistic. The gauge rating curve will be used to determine the river depth. Using Google Earth,
the width of the river section at the gauge will determine the total length of the hydraulic
model so that the manipulation of the channel and floodplains can only vary within a certain
degree. Additionally, using Google Earth the elevation at the gauge and some upstream
distance will be used to determine the river slope used in Manning’s Equation. After the model
is properly calibrated to closely represent the river section, an engineering project affecting the
geometry of the river model will be implemented. From this change in the geometry, the
hydraulic effects will be analyzed at two design flows to determine if this project is feasible in
the real world and the impacts it will have. Additionally, the post-construction rating curve will
be calculated and compared to the pre-construction rating curve. The two design flows will be
chosen using this year’s daily discharge data from the USGS gauge and will be the average flow
and the maximum flow. Through the calibration of the hydraulic model using USGS data and
Google Earth the effects of construction should closely model the real world.

Methods
The USGS river and gauge that was chosen for this project was the Cuyahoga River at
Independence. Using the data from the gauge, the published rating curve was re-constructed in
excel to view the data and later compare it to the eight-point model created. Daily discharge
data provided from the gauge was used in choosing the two design flows used in the
comparison of the pre- and post-construction data. Using the USGS rating curve and google
earth measurement tools, a hydraulic model was created and calibrated to create a rating curve
that matches, as closely as possible, the published rating curve. The differences in the rating
curves are then analyzed to determine any differences. Once the pre-construction rating curve
and hydraulic model are completed the post-construction rating curve is created through a
change in geometry in the river. For this project, the river channel was made wider and the
floodplains were made shorter. The results of this change in geometry are compared to the pre-
conditions and the two design flows to analyze the effects of the change.
Location
The Cuyahoga River at Independence is located in Cuyahoga County, 13 miles above where the
river drains into Lake Erie and 582.66 feet above the North American
Vertical Datum of 1988 (USGS, 2020). Stage, discharge, and water-quality parameters are
measured at this location and used by USGS to predict harmful algal blooms and eutrophication
in Lake Erie and to track changes in loading (USGS, 2020). The gauge at this location is located
after the second smaller bridge (Old Rockside Road bridge) scene in Figure 1. Using the daily
discharge data scene in Figure 2 (USGS Water Data, 2020) two design flows were chosen to be
used as the comparison discharges for the pre- and post-construction data. The two discharges
that were chosen are 1,000 cubic feet per second (CFS) and 10,000 CFS. As can be seen in the
figure, 1,000 CFS represents roughly the average flow throughout the year. 10,000 CFS
represents roughly the maximum flow throughout the year. These two design flows are
important for comparison of the effects of construction because the river needs to be able to
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handle the normal (average) flow through the river and the maximum flow without creating any
problems. If the construction causes the river to not be able to handle these flows successfully,
then the surrounding area may be impacted negatively as well as downstream locations of the
river and Lake Erie. The results of the construction as these design flows will inform whether
the project is feasible or not.

Figure 1: Google Earth Image of the Cuyahoga River at Independence

Figure 2: USGS 04208000 Cuyahoga River at Independence OH

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Hydraulic Model
The published rating curve from USGS and Google Earth measurement tools will be used to
build the hydraulic model of the river that uses an eight-point cross-section with a flat bottom
trapezoidal channel, floodplains on both sides of the channel, and slopes and roughness for the
river at this location. This model is used to simplify the modeling and represent the river as
accurately as possible without having the exact river geometries. Using the published rating
curve that can be seen in Figure 3, the depth of the river channel was chosen. As can be seen in
the figure, the discharge starts to plateau at roughly a gauge height of 21.15 feet. The gauge
heights for this data start at 1.15 feet, which is set as the zero datum for depth (y). Therefore,
the plateau starts at a depth of 20 feet. Using google earth measurement tools at the location
of the gauge, the river has a total width (T) of roughly 135 feet. This distance is used as the total
width from the ends of each floodplain in the eight-point model (does not include the slopes at
the end of the floodplains). The width per 1 foot of height at the end of the floodplains (m2)
was arbitrarily chosen to be 2 feet. The slope of the river was calculated using Google Earth to
determine the elevation at an upstream point in the river, the elevation at the gauge location,
and the distance of the river between those two points. Using an upstream distance of 4500
feet, the change in elevation between the points was 66.8 feet. This resulted in a slope (S) of
roughly 0.015 feet/feet. With the depth, width, floodplain edge slopes, and river slope are
known, the roughness, bottom width of the channel, slope of the channel, and length of the
floodplain was manipulated to calibrate the rating curve to try and match the published curve.
This manipulation and calibration of the rating curve utilize Manning’s Equation to calculate
flow for the rating curve. As can be seen in the equation (Equation 1), the manipulation of the
geometries of the river changes the inputs to Manning’s equation which is how the pre-
construction rating curve was calibrated and how and why certain geometries were chosen. As
can be seen in the equations, the formulas for the area and the perimeter of the model change
when the floodplains begin, and the channel reaches its maximum depth of 20 feet. This change
in the calculation affects the rating curve and will be discussed in the Pre-Construction Rating
Curve section. Through this manipulation strategy, a roughness (n) of 0.4, channel bottom
width (b1) of 25 feet, the top river channel width of 40 feet, channel width per 1 foot of height
(m1) of 0.375 feet, and floodplain total width (b2) of 95 feet (47.5 feet on either side of the
channel) were chosen as the final geometries of the eight-point model. This manipulation
resulted in the rating curve seen in Figure 3.
Equation 1
1.49 2 1
𝑄𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 = ∗ 𝐴 ∗ 𝑅 ⁄3 ∗ 𝑆 ⁄2
𝑛
𝑅𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑙 𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 = 𝑏1 ∗ 𝑦 + 𝑚1 ∗ 𝑦 2

𝑅𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑙 𝑊𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟 = 𝑏1 + 2 ∗ 𝑦 ∗ √1 + 𝑚1 2

𝑅𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑙 𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎
𝑅𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑙 𝑅 =
𝑅𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑙 𝑊𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟

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 𝑅. 𝐶. 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 = 𝑅. 𝐶. 𝐴.20 𝑓𝑡 + 𝑇 ∗ (𝑦 − 20 𝑓𝑡) + 𝑚2 ∗ (𝑦 − 20 𝑓𝑡)2

𝑅. 𝐶. 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑊𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟 = 𝑅. 𝐶. 𝑃.20 𝑓𝑡 + 𝑏2 + 2 ∗ (𝑦 − 20 𝑓𝑡) ∗ √1 + 𝑚2 2

𝑅. 𝐶. 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎
𝑅. 𝐶. 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑅 =
𝑅. 𝐶. 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑊𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟
Post-Construction Design
The river post-construction geometry made the river channel wider and the floodplains shorter.
The geometries that were changed were the top river width to 60 feet, the channel width per 1
foot of height (m1) to 0.875 feet, and floodplain total width (b2) to 75 feet (37.5 feet on either
side of the channel) were chosen as the final geometries, with all other values remaining the
same for the post-construction eight-point model. This manipulation resulted in the rating
curve seen in Figure 4. The hydraulic effects of this change were analyzed at the two design
flows and the points before and after the floodplain engaged to analyze the full extent of the
effects of the change. These results can be found in Table 1 and are discussed in the Post-
Construction Rating Curve section.

Results
The pre-construction and published rating curves are compared to determine differences and
reasons for those differences. The pre-construction and post-construction rating curves and
hydraulic effect at the two design flows are analyzed to determine how the change will affect
the system and the potential impacts. Due to the calibration of the hydraulic model using USGS
data and Google Earth the effects of construction should closely model the real world.

Pre-Construction Rating Curve

The pre-construction and true rating curves can be seen to closely match each other with some
minor differences in Figure 3 which have a logarithmic scale for the discharge.

Figure 3: Cuyahoga River at Independence Rating Curve for True and Pre-Construction Flow

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The pre-construction flow underestimates the flow everywhere except between the gauge
heights of 1.68 to 2.66 feet where it overestimates the flow. Once the floodplain is engaged at
the elevation of 21.15 feet, the flow can be seen to decrease rapidly before gradually increasing
again, with the flow underestimated. This jump is due to the perfectly perpendicular floodplain
in the eight-point model design. When the depth exceeds the river, the floodplain engages and
has an infinitesimally small depth. This causes the area to stay roughly the same, but the
wetted perimeter jumps up dramatically, dropping R and thereby Manning’s flow. This
boundary condition engages the floodplain with the river suddenly no longer able to handle the
flow, so water will back up until it has a deeper depth, essentially acting as a choke. These
differences in the rating curves may be due to the eight-point geometry of the model not being
a good representation of the river geometry at the location of the gauge.
Post-Construction Rating Curve
The river post-construction geometry changes results are compared to the pre-conditions to
analyze the effects of the change. This change in geometry represent an engineering effort to
remove sedimentation deposition along the edges of the river. Figure 4 shows the comparison
of the pre- and post-construction rating curves using a logarithmic scale for discharge.

Figure 4: Cuyahoga River at Independence Rating Curve for Pre- and Post-Construction Flow

The post-construction flow overestimates the flow compared to the pre-construction. This
difference is due to the geometry change creating a larger river area and perimeter thereby
increasing Manning’s flow. The post-construction flow can be seen to decrease rapidly where
the floodplain engages for the same reasons described for the pre-construction curve. Table 1
shows more in detail hydraulic effects at the two design flows and before and after the
floodplain engages for pre- and post-construction.

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Table 1: Pre- and Post-Construction Hydraulic Effects at Design Flows and Floodplain
Flow Depth Froude #
Pre-Construction at Average Flow 1,000 5.06 0.886
Post- Construction at Average Flow 1,000 4.88 0.916
Pre-Construction at Max Flow 10,000 17.88 0.903
Post-Construction at Max Flow 10,000 15.31 1.020
Pre-Construction before Floodplain 13,357 21.15 0.898
Post-Construction before Floodplain 18,985 21.15 1.046
Pre-Construction after Floodplain 7,470 21.16 0.920
Post-Construction after Floodplain 12,153 21.16 1.002

As can be seen in Table 1, the geometric change for the post-construction river causes the flow
to reach higher magnitudes at lower depths than the pre-construction design. This increase in
flow is accompanied by a larger river area and larger top width of flowing water (TW) in the
channel. This causes the Froude number to have a smaller denominator with a larger
numerator, resulting in a larger Froude number for the post-conditions as seen in Equation 2.
The post-construction design causes the river to reach supercritical flow earlier than the pre-
construction design meaning the river has a faster, rapid flow at lower depths with the normal
depth less than the critical depth.
Equation 2
𝑄𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔
𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑑𝑒 # =
𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎
𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 ∗ √32.2 ∗
𝑇𝑊
𝑇𝑊 = 𝑏 + 2 ∗ 𝑚 ∗ 𝑦

Discussion
Through modeling this river using an eight-point trapezoidal channel with the parameters
discussed in this report, we were able to successfully simulate the pre- and post-construction
rating curves. The river geometries were manipulated while utilizing USGS data and Google
Earth to create a realistic system to simulate the flows. The manipulation allowed the creation
of a simulated rating curve that was a good fit for the published rating curve. The fit of this
curve had some limitations, however. The manipulation of the roughness of the system was a
parameter that resulted in a value that may not be a good fit for the system in real life. The
value used in the simulation to create a good fit was 0.4 for the entire system which may be too
high for a river but may be a good representation of the floodplain. A value of 0.4 more
accurately represents a system with high resistance from weeds or stones. The Cuyahoga River
at Independence likely would have a lower roughness value for the channel that more closely
represents that of a straight or winding earth channel with a value around 0.25. This limitation
may be a result of the use of the simplified eight-point model used. This model may not be a
good representation of the river geometries at this location and may require unrealistic values,

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like the roughness, to calibrate a rating curve that matches the published curve. Additionally,
this model results in the issue of a perfectly perpendicular floodplain with an infinitesimally
small depth causing a large choke is unrealistic. In reality, the floodplain would not be perfectly
perpendicular and engage the entire floodplain all at once. The river would engage smaller
areas of the floodplain at a time and the river channel would handle the flow without resulting
in a large choke, but gradually slow the flow.

The change in geometry discussed represents an engineering effort to remove sedimentation

from the river to widen the channel and decrease the floodplains. This would allow the river to
handle larger discharges without engaging the floodplain. This would be beneficial as it would
reduce the risk of flooding from a potentially overused floodplain during flood events. If the
floodplain is engaged at lower flow rates more often, it will be less effective at handling high
flood events. The decrease in the use of the floodplain from the post-construction would allow
the floodplain to maintain a healthy vegetated state which would make it more effective during
flood events at reducing the flow rate and erosion. This is directly beneficial to the Cuyahoga
River at Independence with the most recent maximum stage being 21.62 feet as seen in Figure
5 (USGS Water Data, 2020). This recent maximum stage-discharge would be roughly around
where the floodplain would engage, assuming the stage uses a datum of zero as the deepest
part of the river channel. The engineering project affecting the river geometry would allow the
river to handle the higher flood stages more efficiently with the healthier floodplain.

Figure 5: USGS 04208000 Cuyahoga River at Independence OH

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Bibliography
USGS. (2020). Cuyahoga River at Independence, OH. USGS. Retrieved from
https://www.usgs.gov/centers/oki-water/science/cuyahoga-river-independence-oh?qt-
science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects
USGS Water Data. (2020). USGS 04208000 Cuyahoga River at Independence OH. Retrieved from
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/dv/?site_no=04208000&agency_cd=USGS&referr
ed_module=sw