Discharge prediction in meandering compound channels

Abstract

Reliable prediction of discharge is the foremost requirement for the safety of river work and flood management. Parameters related to channel geometry and flow characteristics including effects of secondary current produced along the flow, momentum transfer across the main channel and floodplain are discussed briefly. In total seven datasets are used for the study. Discharge prediction for meandering channels by three existing methodologies, i.e., Greenhill and Sellin (1993), methods by James and Wark (1992) and by Shiono et al. (1999) is analysed. Relative error is calculated to check the degree of accuracy given by each method and is used as a tool to decide the effectiveness of the methods. The methods by James and Wark (1992) are observed to provide better results in comparison to the other models as they take into account the energy loss due to friction factor as well as sinuosity, geometry and expansion-contraction losses.