Predicting Stage-Discharge Curves in Channels with Bank Vegetation
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 122, Issue 10
Abstract
Many flood-control channels are subjected to expensive and environmentally damaging maintenance practices to control vegetation growth in attempts to preserve flood capacity. However, such maintenance regimes are often based on vague and qualitative guidelines. There is a clear need for physically based methods of predicting the impacts of vegetation growth on flow resistance and flood capacity. In the present note, a numerical hydraulic model is coupled with physically based flow-resistance equations for gravel-bed materials and vegetation roughness elements. The resulting model is capable of simulating stage-discharge curves in channels with arbitrary cross-sectional geometry, gravel-bed materials and bank, and/or floodplain vegetation, including overbank flows. The new model is demonstrated to be capable of closely replicating the stage-discharge curve at a study site on a natural river channel. Finally, the model is demonstrated using examples in which the effects on flood capacity of seasonal vegetation growth are simulated at the study site.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Brookes, A. (1988). Channelized rivers: perspectives for environmental management . John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Chichester, England.
2.
Darby, S. E., and Thorne, C. R.(1994). “Fluvial maintenance operations in managed alluvial rivers.”Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 4, 130–148.
3.
Hey, R. D.(1979). “Flow resistance in gravel-bed rivers.”J. Hydr. Div., ASCE, 105(4), 365–379.
4.
Kouwen, N., Unny, T. E., and Hill, A. M.(1969). “Flow retardance in vegetated channels.”J. Irrig. and Drain. Div., ASCE, 95(2), 329–342.
5.
Kouwen, N., and Li, R.-M.(1980). “Biomechanics of vegetative channel linings.”J. Hydr. Div., ASCE, 106(6), 1085–1103.
6.
Kouwen, N.(1988). “Field estimation of the biomechanical properties of grass.”J. Hydr. Res., 26(5), 559–568.
7.
Masterman, R., and Thorne, C. R.(1992). “Predicting influence of bank vegetation on channel capacity.”J. Hydr. Engrg., 118(7), 1052–1058.
8.
Masterman, R., and Thorne, C. R. (1994). “Analytical approach to flow resistance in gravel-bed channels with vegetated banks.”Process models and theoretical geomorphology, M. J. Kirkby, ed., John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Chichester, England, 201–218.
9.
Wark, J. B., Samuels, P. G., and Ervine, D. A. (1990). “A practical method of estimating velocity and discharge in a compound channel.”Flood Hydr., W. R. White, ed., John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Chichester, England, 163–172.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Oct 1, 1996
Published in print: Oct 1996
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.