Partition curve of hydraulic radius and flow characteristics in compound channels

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Yan Lu, Xiaofen Liu, Yongjun Lu

Tuesday 30 june 2015

16:15 - 16:30h at Oceania (level 0)

Themes: (T) Sediment management and morphodynamics, (ST) River morphodynamics

Parallel session: 7B. Sediment - River

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In a compound channel the interaction between floodplain and main channel flow is an essential feature that causes a momentum exchange between. The momentum exchange affects the flow distribution in the floodplain and main channel. With the adoption of Einstein’s partition method of hydraulic radius, and with some certain assumptions, a series of partition curves of hydraulic radius were proposed for a compound channel. In this way, a compound channel can be divided into several hydraulic regions including floodplain region, main channel region, interacting region and sidewall region. The flow characteristics as velocity distribution and boundary shear stress of each region were investigated experimentally. The experimental data showed that partition curves proposed in this research are relatively reliable. Also comparisons with traditional methods, such as vertical division method (VDM) and inclined division method (IDM), was conducted in this study.