FE Exam Review

Civil Engineering
Hydraulics, Hydrology, and Fluid Mechanics
Cary Troy, Lyles School of Civil Engineering
February 11, 2015
Exam Specifications Civil Engineering

http://ncees.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/FE-Civil-CBT-
specs_with-ranges.pdf
Exam Specifications Civil Engineering

http://ncees.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/FE-Civil-CBT-
specs_with-ranges.pdf
Reference Manual
Example: If 3 of rain fall on a catchment that has a
curve number of 75, what is the total amount of direct runoff?

Runoff (Q) = Rainfall (P) - Losses

RAINFALL
RUNOFF
Ground

Losses
(depnds on catchment type, 0-100)
http://ncees.org/exams/study-materials/download-fe-
supplied-reference-handbook/
Peak runoff (discharge)

Rain falls at a maximum rate of 2/hour

on a watershed of 77 acres. If the runoff
coefficient is 0.42, what is the expected
peak discharge?
Hydrograph
Q

Flow

Time
Groundwater flow
A given soil has hydraulic
conductivity K=5 x 10-6 m/s. If the
hydraulic grade line falls 1m every
100m of distance, what is the
average seepage velocity? The
effective porosity is 0.55.
Well drawdown
Well drawdown - unconfined
Well drawdown - confined
Open Channel Flow classifications
Uniform vs. non-uniform
If Uniform, can use Mannings equation
If not, need to use specific energy to relate points at different locations
Critical, vs. super-critical vs. sub-critical
Depends on the Froude number
Fr>1 : Super-critical
Fr<1 : Sub-critical
Hydraulic Jump:
Flow jumps from super-critical (shallow) to sub-critical (deep)
Key variables
Flow rate, Q (m3/s, cfs)
Flow rate per unit width, q (m2/s, ft2/s)
Average velocity, V = Q/A (m/s, ft/s)

Flow depth, y (m,ft)

Channel width, B (m, ft)
Flow area, A (m2, ft2)
Wetted perimeter, P (m,ft)
Hydraulic radius, RH = A/P (m,ft)
Specific Energy

Flow is always somewhere along this curve,

for a given flowrate per unit width
Open Channel Flow Uniform flow
Mannings Equation for Uniform Flow
A 20 foot wide rectangular channel has a slope
of 0.0001. If the channel has Mannings n of
0.013, and the depth is 3ft, what is the
discharge? Assume uniform flow.
Open Channel Flow Froude number
An open channel flow has discharge 300 cfs. If
the channel is rectangular with width 10ft, and
the depth is 3ft, what is the Froude number of
the flow? How would you classify the flow?
Open channel flow critical flow/depth
For a given flow rate and channel geometry, what is the critical depth
of flow?
Weirs
Rectangular

V-Notch

H
Full (pressurized) pipe flow Hazen Williams
Head loss in full pipes H-W
Head loss in pipes H-W
Partially-full pipe
flow (sewers)
Calculate totally full
discharge, velocity
Use depth ratio to figure
out partially-full:
Discharge
Velocity
Other
Flow in open channels y

B
geometry: wetted perimeter, P, and hydraulic
radius, Rh = A/P
uniform flow: Sf = S0 , where S0 is channel slope
concept of critical flow and importance of Froude
number
for rectangular channels of width, B, and depth, y:
q Q / B Vy , yc q / g , Fr V / gy , Frc 1
2 1/ 3

subcritical flow (Fr < 1 or y > yc), supercritical flow

(Fr > 1 or y < yc)
Open channel problems
(p. 6, #3) What is the hydraulic radius of a rectangular
flume 2 ft high and 4 ft wide, which is running half full?

Rh A / P By /( B 2 y ) y
Ans: B D
B
(p. 6, #12) The critical depth in a rectangular channel 8 ft wide flowing at a
critical velocity of 2 ft/s is approximately?

Frc 1 Vc / gyc , yc Vc2 / g

Ans: A