NEW CANAL 201

MELUKOTE
8

CANAL ALIGNMENT

INTRODUCTION:
A section of canal is said to be most economical when the canal is minimum.
But the cost of construction of canal depends upon the lining. To keep the
cost down or minimum the wetted perimeter for a given discharge should be
minimum.
ALIGNMENT:
After construction of tank the water stored in the tank has to flow through the
canal for irrigating the command area. The slope of the is an important factor.
The slope to be provided should be such that the water shall flow with non-
scouring and non-silting velocity. The nature of soil is to be taken into account
to fix the gradient of the canal with physical verification of the type of soil in
the command area gradient of 1 in 2000 has been fixed.
SPECIFICATIONS:
 Canal is aligned in a falling contour
 Depth of cut should be minimum
 There should be few cross drainage works
 Straight canal is preferred and curves are avoided as for as possible.

DEPT. OF CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ,BENGALURU Page 19

 NEW CANAL 201
MELUKOTE
8

DEFINITION:

Canal is passage for the flow of water from a reservoir or like to an

irrigation field or any other place of need. Water in canal flows under gravity
and the upper surface of the water is always open to atmospheric pressure.

Classification of canals:-

In an irrigation project usually the canals are classified based on alignment

or on their discharge carrying capacity.

 Based on the discharge carrying capacity they are classified as: main,
branch, major branch distributary, minor distributary and filed canals.
 Based on alignment, they are classified as contour canals, watershed or
ridge canals and side slope canals and detour canals.

CONTOUR CANALS:-

Contour canals are aligned roughly parallel to the ground surface. Such
canals have command area on only one side as the other side of the canal will
be at higher level, these canals are also known as single bank canals.

WATER SHED OR RIDGE CANAL:-

These canals follow the ridge line of the country and can irrigate on either
sides. Such canals have to be avoided when they intercept important places,
places of worship costly and precious forests.

DEPT. OF CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ,BENGALURU Page 20

 NEW CANAL 201
MELUKOTE
8
SIDE SLOPE CANAL:-

These canals are aligned roughly at right angles to the contours of the
country and hence they run parallel to the natural drainage.

DTOUR CANALS:-

Generally contour canals have to cross many obstacles like deep valleys.
High ridges etc..thereby the cost would be very very high. Hence in order to cut
down the cost of production, lengthy alignment is adopted, such canals are
known as detour canals. The main drawbacks of such canals are: the command
area reduces and the number of cross drainage work tends to increase.
In the present work the proposed new tank is bounded by hillocks on
either bank or the ground terrain slopes towards the natural drain, therefore,
contour canal alignment is really suited.

GUDELINES FOR THE ALIGNMENT OF A CONTOUR CANAL:-

 The alignment should follow a falling contour and it shall be in cutting .
 The depth of cut should be minimum
 As far as possible alignment should be straight, however, where curves
are unavoidable, they should be of long radius, i.e. the minimum radius
should be 20 times the bed width of the canal.
 The number of cross drainage works shall be as minimum as possible.
 The fall of the contour shall be such that the resulting slope of the canal
bed shall be ( longitudinal slope) providing a non-sitting and non-
scouring velocity of flow.
 The alignment shall progress as far away from the natural drain ( mother
valley ) in order to yield a longer command area.

DEPT. OF CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ,BENGALURU Page 21

 NEW CANAL 201
MELUKOTE
8
GUIDELINES FOR THE ALIGNMENT OF A SIDE SLOPE CANAL:-

 The alignment should run perpendicular to the contour.

 As far as possible, large filling and deep cutting shall be avoided. The fill
and cut shall be balanced as far as possible.
 The cross drainage works shall be minimum.
 The alignment should be fairly straight , without sharp bends.

LONGITUDINAL SLOPES FOR THE CANALS:-

The longitudinal slope for the canal shall be as flat as possible and this is
guide by the minimum permissible velocity. The resulting slope shall be such that
the velocity in the channel is neither silting nor scouring. The value of longitudinal
slope caries from 1: 500 to 1:12500, depending upon the terrain and type of
canal.

SIDE SLOPE OF THE CANAL:-

Side slope is an important parameter in the design of a canal. Generally

steeper slopes make the section narrower and deeper, increased velocity and
discharge per width, lesser wetted perimeter and decreased evaporation and
percolation losses. Generally a slope of 1:1 in cutting and 1: 1.5 in filling is used,
however in hard and rocky soils, this value can be as low as 1:0.5.

BED LEVEL OF THE CANAL AT THE ENTRY OR BED LEVEL OF THE

SLUICE:-

DEPT. OF CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ,BENGALURU Page 22

 NEW CANAL 201
MELUKOTE
8
It is not advisable to draw the entire water stored in the reservoir. Hence
the bed level of the sluice is kept above the lowest point on the longitudinal
section. The water that cannot be drawn is called as dead water storage, which
can be used for domestic purposes. This also avoids choking of sluice due to silt
deposition in the tank.

OBJECTIVES OF SURVEYING:-

 Fixing up of alignment of canal

 Collecting data regarding earth work and cross driage works.
 Determination of gross command area.

The details of such an extensive survey are discussed below.

FIELD WORK:

It is very well known that a contour canal follows a contour and it should
be in cutting. To fulfill this requirement , the survey work is doen taking the top
level of the canla as the reference RL.
Having known the bed level of the canal ie sill level of sluice and assuming
the depth of flow of water and suitable freeboard, we can fix up the level of the
top of the canal and proceed with survey work.

D) PROCEEDURE FOR ALIGNMENT OF CANAL

DETAILS AT THE SLUICE POINT:-

Bed level of sluice = 858.355m

Full supply depth of water = 0.8m
Free board = 0.2m

DEPT. OF CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ,BENGALURU Page 23

 NEW CANAL 201
MELUKOTE
8

EQUIPMENTS REQUIRED:

 Level with a stand

 Leveling staff
 Ranging rods
 Chain with arrows
 Own staff
 Tape
 Compass with stand

E) PROCEDURE:-

 Starting from the nearest BM a point along the center of proposed bund
having an RL 884.5 m is established on the right bank of bund.
 This point is fixed with respect to three pemenant points by taking
bearings and distance.
 The next pint is established on the ground corresponding to a slop of .
015 m at meter from the starting pint.

EXAMPLE:-
RL of the contour at 0 chainage i.e at sluice point = 858.355m

Fall for 30 meter =slope x distance

=1/1200x30
=0.025meter
RL at 30 meters =858.33m

DEPT. OF CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ,BENGALURU Page 24

 NEW CANAL 201
MELUKOTE
8
1. The fore bearing is taken from the starting point to the new pint and
back bearing from the new pint to the starting point and these values
are entered in the field book.
2. Salient features and nature of terrain are noted on either side of the
canal.
3. The procedure is repeated for the L section.
4. Cross sections are taken at ….. meter the length of cross section to be
taken shall be as follows.

TYPE OF SLOPE LENGTH ON EITHER INTERVAL

SIDE
STEEP SLOPE 12M 3M
FLAT SLOPE 15M 5M

5. The procedure shall be continued keeping in mind that the canal must
be almost straight. However curves with large radius shall be set
whenever required.

BLOCK LEVELING:-

If the alignment crosses a natural valley, block leveling shall be carried out
so as to propose suitable cross drainage works.

TRACING OF TAIL DRAIN AND MOTHER VALLEY:-

DEPT. OF CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ,BENGALURU Page 25

 NEW CANAL 201
MELUKOTE
8
In order to obtain the gross command area (GCA) it is necessary to trace
both the tail drain and the mother valley, the tracing work can be carried out with
the help of chain and compass.

a)TRACING OF TIAL DRAIN:-

 Starting from the end point of the canal, the tail is traced using compass
and chain.
 The final pint is the point where it reaches the mother valley.

{note: the canal can also be tailed off directly into the mother valley if
feasible.}

b) TRACING OF MOTHER VALLEY:-

 Starting pint of compass survey is the pint of intersection of the bund

and the mother valley.
 The last point of compass survey is the intersection of the tail drain or
canal and the mother valley.

Note: the day’s work shall be closed on the benchmark by fly leveling.

OFFICE WORK

After collecting the required data from the field. Following working
drawings are to be prepared.

DEPT. OF CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ,BENGALURU Page 26

 NEW CANAL 201
MELUKOTE
8
 including the centerline of the bund, centerline of alignment, tail drain,
mother valley and all the important features.

 Longitudinal section of canal along the centerline of alignment indicating

the bed level and depth of cut and fill.

 All the cross sections indicating proposed canal cross section, full supply
depth berms etc. Typical proposed cross sections for canal depending
upon canal are illustrated.

 Using the block levels, contours shall be interpolated at specified

intervals for the proposed cross drainage work, its design and
estimation.

GROSS COMMAND AREA (GCA):-

It is the area enclosed between the interline of the bund, mother valley,
and the centerline of canal and the tail drain. This can be calculated using a
planimeter.

DESIGN OF CANAL SECTION: (TYPICAL CALCULATION)

DETERMINATION OF IRRIGABLE AREA:-

 Obtain the yield from the catchment area using suitable equation.

DEPT. OF CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ,BENGALURU Page 27

 NEW CANAL 201
MELUKOTE
8
 Assume about 10% evaporation losses and about 15% conveyance
losses i.e. about 25% total losses in the tank storage capacity.

 Assume a suitable duty depending up on the type of crop.

 Calculate the irrigable area. If the irrigable area is larger than the
command area for further calculations.

LACEY’S THEORY:-
The main drawback of Kennedy’s theory was that neither the silt size nor
the silt load was considered anywhere in the design. However this pint is
taken care in the Lacey’s theory, the observation is that Kennedy defined
a regime channel as that which neither slits nor scours. However lacey
mentioned the regime in 3 stages , they are

(i) INITIAL REGIME:- This is the channel condition at which the cross
setion hs formed but the bed slope not yet secured.

ii) FINAL REGIMENT:- It is that stage at which the channel has

attained its shape and as well as secured its bed slope.

iii) PERMANENT REGIMENT:- it is that stage at which the sides and

slopes are protected with the silt flowing in the channel.

REGIME CONDITION

DEPT. OF CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ,BENGALURU Page 28

 NEW CANAL 201
MELUKOTE
8
A channel is said to be in regime when the channel is flowing
in incoherent with the alluvium of the same character as that
transported (incoherent alluvium is a loosely composed granular
soil which can be scoured with the same ease with which it is
deposited).

LIMITATIONS OF LACEY’S THEORY:-

 Lacey felt that for channel of elliptical section, there is a certain velocity
below which the calculated wetted perimeter cannot contain any area.
Hence no attempt has been made to design channel of smaller
discharges with these formulas.

 It is also seen that the lacey’s silt factor f in various formulae is not
dimensionally the same and no notice has been taken of this
discrepancy.

 The constant in the equation p= 4.75√Q actually varies from 3.8 to 5.8 or
even within wider limits, but for design purposes , the above equation is
adhered to.

 While calculating the dimensions of a channel from Lacey’s formulae,

each dimension has to be arrived at by using the formulas only.

 Lacey’s equations are empirical. Hence the constant are to be

determined for different channel conditions.

DESIGHN OF CANAL SECTION USING LACEY’S SILT THEORY

DEPT. OF CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ,BENGALURU Page 29

 NEW CANAL 201
MELUKOTE
8

The command area = 10 Hectares

Average duty of mixed pattern of crops = 800 Hectares/ Cumec
From definition of Duty, Duty = Area/Discharge.
Therefore, Discharge = Q = Area/Duty = 10/800 = 0.0125 m 3/sec
For future expansion consider = 2*Q
= 2*0.0125
= 0.025 m3/sec
Assume the discharge through channel is 4m3/s
Lacey’s silt factor, f = 1.0
Let the horizontal component of side slope, n = 1
Average velocity of flow in the channel, V = {Q*f2/140}1/6
={4*12/140}1/6
= 0.55m/s
Area of flow, A = Q/V
= 4/0.55
= 7.27 m2
Wetted perimeter = P=4.75√Q =4.75√4 = 9.5m
Depth of the channel section
D=(P-√(P2-6.944A))/3.472
D=9.5-(√9.52-(6.944*7.27))/3.472
D=0.92m
Bed width B=P-2.236B
B=9.5-2.236*0.92
B=7.44m

HYDRAULIC MEAN RADIUS

R=(5/2)*(v2/f)
R=(5/2)*(0.552/1)
R=0.756m

DEPT. OF CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ,BENGALURU Page 30

 NEW CANAL 201
MELUKOTE
8

We know that R=A/P=((7.44*0.92)+(0.9222/2))/(7.44+(0.92*2.236))

R=0.756
Hence hydraulic radius calculated are matching

BED SLOPE = f(5/3)/(3340*Q(1/6))

= 1/(3340*4(1/6))
=1/4208

DESIGN OF CANAL DROP

Upstream –
Bed width = 7.5m
Bed level = 858m
Full supply depth = 1.5m
Full supply level = 859.5m
Half supply depth =(2/3)*1.5=1m
Downstream –
Bed width =7.5m
Bed level= 855m
Full supply depth =1.5m
Full supply level= 856.5m
Discharge through channel =4m3/s
Discharge through trapezoidal notch is given by
Q=(2/3)Cd*d(3/2)√(2g)(L+(2/5)nd)
Cd=coefficient of discharge = 0.7
L=length of notch
n=2*tan(k/2)
k=angle of inclination of the side of notch to verticle
Q=2.99Cd*d(3/2)(L+0.4nd)
For full supply condition d=1.5m

DEPT. OF CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ,BENGALURU Page 31

 NEW CANAL 201
MELUKOTE
8
And let us provide 2notches each discharges 2m 3/s
Thus, 2=2.99*0.7*1.5(3/2)(L+0.4n*1.5)
0.52=L+0.6n-------------------------------1
For half supply condition , d=1m
And discharge =1m3/s
Thus, 1=2.99*0.7*1(3/2)(L+0.4*n*1)
0.48=L+0.4n-----------------------------2
Solving 1 and 2
L=0.4 and n=0.2
n= 2*tan(k/2)
0.2=2*tan(k/2)
k= 5degree 42’ 6’’ = 6degree
top width of notch =L+nd
=0.5+(0.2*1.5)
=0.8m
DESIGN OF DROP WALL
The length of the drop wall is generally 7/8 th of the bed width of the upstream
drop and is nevermore than bed width of downstream of drop
Length of drop wall = (7/8)*7.5
= 6.562m
Thickness is usually kept 150mm to 300mm more than notch wall thickness
NOTCH WALL
The top of the notch wall is kept at upstream full supply level i.e., 859.5m .Also
sill of the notch is kept at upstream bed level i.e., 858m
Thickness of notch wall <= (0.5d+0.15)
<=(0.5*1.5+0.15)
<=0.9 = 1m
Thus , the top thickness of drop wall is 1m

DESIGN OF WATER CUSHION

DEPT. OF CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ,BENGALURU Page 32

 NEW CANAL 201
MELUKOTE
8
Let L be length of cushion , x be depth of water cushion , and t be thickness of
cushion
Depth of water cushion d + x =0.91 d(√HL)
1.5+x=0.91*1.5*(√3)
(the difference in upstream and downstream elevation be H L=4m)
X=0.86m
Hence the water cushion may be kept 82cm below the downstream bed level of
channel
Height of drop wall (h)= HL+x = 3m+0.86m = 3.86m
Bottom width of drop wall or top of apron is given by
b=h+d/(√S) = 3.86+1.5/(√2.25) = 3.57m
where S is specific gravity of massonary
width of apron at end of water cushion is = L+(0.5d) = 6.562+(0.5*1.5) = 7.31m
WATER CUSHION ON DOWNSTREAM SIDE
The water cushion formed by concrete apron .This apron is extended as
foundation for drop wall and downstream wing wall.
Deapth of water cushion = 0.86m
Thickness of concrete apron = 0.5(√d+HL)
=0.5*(√1.5+4) = 1.172m = 1.2m
The length of water cushion measured from drop wall toe , L=2d+2(√d+H L)
L= 2*1.5+2*(√1.5+4)
= 7.69m = 8m
Minimum length = d+2*(√d*HL)
= 1.5+2*(√1.5*4)
= 6.1m is the minimum
The downstream talus or protection measured from toe = 4*(d+H L)
= 4*(1.5+4)= 22m
PROTECTION WORKS
ABUTMENT–
Length of abutment = bottom width of drop wall = 3.57m

DEPT. OF CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ,BENGALURU Page 33

 NEW CANAL 201
MELUKOTE
8
Top of abutment is kept at 860m
Bottom of abutment is kept on apron 855.2m
Height of abutment = 860-855.2 = 4.8m
Width of abutment = 4.8*0.4=1.92m = 2m

UPSTREAM WING WALL

Top of upstream wing wall is kept on top of upstream bund = 860m
Bottom of upstream wing wall is kept at good foundation level 854.5m
Upstream wing wall is splayed at 45degree or 1:1
Thickness of foundation concrete may be adopted as 60cm
Height of wall = 860-854.5 = 5.5m
Width of wall = 0.4*5.5 =2.2m

DOWNSTREAM WING WALL

This is in junction with abutment and has the top width of 0.5m and it slopes from
860m to top canal bed 858m
Top level of wall will be top level of downstream canal 857
Height of downstream wing wall = 858-857 = 1m

RETURN WALL
The cross section of return wall is same as downstream wing wall. Return wall is
made sufficiently long so that it projects well into the top of bank at downstream
of drop.

DEPT. OF CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHARYA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ,BENGALURU Page 34