Design of Stable Channel

Regime Channel
A channel is said to be in a state of ‘Regime’ if
the flow is such that ‘silting & scouring ‘ need no
special attention

The basis of designing such an ideal, non-silting, non-

scouring channel is that, whatever silt has entered the
channel at its head is kept in suspension, so that it does not
settle down and deposit at any point of the channel.
Moreover, the velocity of the water should be such that it
does not produce local silt by erosion of channel bed and
slopes
 Kennedy Regime Theory
Steps involved for the design of Earthen Canals:
• Assume a suitable depth
• Find out V0 using Kennedy’s approach
V0 = 0.55 my0.64
Here, 0.55 and 0.64 are constants depending
upon silt charge in S.I. unit
and m =critical velocity ratio (C.V.R.)
• Calculate Area of cross-section, A = Q/V0
• Calculate channel dimensions assuming any
reasonable side slope value (1V:1H, 1V:2H,
1V:1.5H etc)
• Calculate actual mean velocity that will prevail in
the channel of this section using Chezy’s formula
 Kennedy Regime Theory
• Find Chezy’s C by Kutter’s Formula (S.I. Units):

Here, V= Velocity of flow in m/sec

R= Hydraulic mean depth in m
S= Bed slope of Channel
n= Rugosity coefficient
Recommended values for ‘n’ for unlined
channel
Conditions of channel Value of n
Very good 0.0225
Good 0.025
Indifferent 0.0275
Poor 0.030

Discharge in cumec Value of n

14-140 0.025
140-280 0.0225
280 and above 0.020
Recommended values of C.V.R (m)

Types of silt Value of m

Silt of River (Pakistan) 0.7
Light sandy silt in North 1.0
Indian rivers
Light sandy silt, a little 1.1
coarser
Sandy, loamy silt 1.2
Debris of Hard soil 1.3
Design an irrigation channel to carry 50 cumecs of discharge.
The channel is to be laid at a slope 1 in 4000. The critical
velocity ratio for the soil is 1.1. Use Kutter’s rugosity
coefficient as 0.023.
Here, Q=50 cumecs, S=1 in 4000, m=1.1 and
n=0.023
1. Assume y=2m
2. Vo =0.55X1.1X(2)0.64 =0.942 m/sec
3. A=Q/V0 =(50/0.942)=53.1 m2
4. Assume side slope 0.5 H:1 V
A=y(b+0.5y)
or, 53.1=2(b+1) . Now b=25.55m
P=b+2√(1+1/4) y
=25.55+√5x2=30.03
Now R=A/P=1.77m
5. Using Kutter’s Formula –
V=1.016m/sec 9>0.942m/sec ;or V>V0
In order to increase the critical velocity (V0)
we have to increase the depth
Use depth y=2.7m
V0 =1.147m/sec, A=43.5m2, b=14.14m
P=20.40m, R=2.13m
V=1.148m/sec ≈ 1.147 ;or V ≈ V0

Y=2.7m 1

0.5

b=14.20 m
 Assignment

Design an irrigation channel to carry 40

cumecs of discharge, with base width to
depth ratio as 2.5. the critical velocity
ratio is 1.0. Assume a suitable value of
Kutter’s rugosity coefficient and use
Kennedy’s method
 Lacey’s theory
Lacey come out with the statement that
even a channel showing no silting no
scouring may actually not be in regime. He,
therefore, differentiated between three
regime conditions
1. True regime
2. Initial regime
3. Final regime
 According to Lacey, a channel which is under
‘initial’ regime , is not a channel in regime and
hence, regime theory is not applicable to such
channels.
His theory is therefore applicable to to those
channel, which are either in
True regime or
Final regime
 True regime
A designed channel shall be in true regime if the
following conditions are satisfied
1. Discharge is constant
2. Flow is uniform
3. Silt charge is constant
4. Silt grade is constant
5. Channel is flowing through a material which can be
scoured as easily as it can be deposited, and is of the
same grade as is transported
But in practice , all those conditions can never be satisfied.
Therefore, artificial channel can never be in true regime;
they can either be in initial regime or final regime
 Initial regime
When only the bed slope of a channel varies
due to dropping of silt, and its cross-section or
wetted perimeter remains unaffected, even
then the channel can exhibit ‘no silting no
scouring’ properties, called initial regime
they only achieved a working stability due to
the rigidity of their banks.
 Final regime
If there is no resistance from the sides and all
the variables such as perimeter, depth etc are
equally free to vary and finally get adjusted
according to discharge and silt grade, then the
channel is said to have permanent stability,
called final regime.
Regime theory is only applicable to such
channels only.
 Design procedure for Lacey’s theory
1. Calculate the velocity from
1/6

Where, v in m/sec
Q in cumec
and f is the silt factor given by

dmm =Average particle size in mm

2. Work out the hydraulic mean depth from the
equation
R=
Where V is in m/sec
R is in m
3. Compute area of channel section A=
4. Compute we2ed perimeter, P=4.75√Q
Where P is in m and Q is in m3 /sec
5. Determine the bed slope by
Where f is the silt factor and Q is the discharge
in cumec

Design a Regime Channel for a discharge of 50
cumecs and silt factor 1.1, Using Lacey’s theory

Here, Q=50 cumecs, f=1.1

=
P=4.75 √Q=4.75 √50=33.56m
For a trapezoidal channel with 0.5H:1V slopes
P=b+√5 y and A=(b+0.5y)y
Now 33.56=b+ √5 y ……………………….(1)
56.3 =by+0.5y2 ……………………(2)
From equation (1) we get b=33.56-2.24y
Putting this value in equation (2) we get
y2 -19.3y+32.4=0
Solving this-
y=(19.3±15.6)/2
Neglecting unfeasible +ve sign, we get
y=1.65m
Now b=33.56-2.24X1.65=29.77m

Y=1.65m 1

0.5

b=29.77m
 Comparisons of Lacey’s and Kennedy’s Theory
1. Kennedy’s C.V.R formula was derived in terms of depth of flow
considering that the eddies generated from sides of the
trapezoidal channel section did not have silt supporting power.
On the other hand Lacey consider cup shaped (semi-ellipse)
channel section and the entire wetted perimeter(P) of the
channel contributes to the generation of silt supporting eddies.
Therefore, he used hydraulic mean radius (R=A/P) as a variable
in his regime velocity formula instead of depth (y).
2. Kennedy stated all the channels to be in a state of regime
provided that they did not silt or scour. But, Lacey differentiated
between the two regime conditions, i.e. Initial regime and final
regime.
3. Lacey’s gives more attention to grain size forming the channel by
connecting the grain size (d) with silt factor (f), which occurs in
all those Lacey’s equations used to determine channel
dimensions. But Kennedy has simply stated that C.V.R (V/V0 =m)
varies according to silt conditions.
• Kennedy used Kutter’s formula for determining the actual
generated channel velocity where Kutter’s rugosity Coefficient
is again a guess work. On the other hand, Lacey after analyzing
huge data, has produced a general regime flow equation,
stating that V=10.8 R2/3 S1/3
• Kennedy has not given any importance to bed width and depth
ratio. Lacey has connected wetted perimeter (P) as well as
area (A) of the channel with discharge, thus , establishing a
fixed relationship between bed width and depth.
• Kennedy did not fix regime slopes for his channels. Lacey, on
the other hand, has fixed the regime slope, given by eqn.
 References
• Chapter-”Sediment transport and design of
irrigation channels”, Irrigation and Hydraulic
Structures-S.K. Garg (Page-110-123)