CHAPTER3……………

RIVER TRAINING WORKS AND BANK PROTECTION

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 Classification of river training based on purpose

a. Training for high water or flood discharge

High water training: is undertaken with the purpose of
providing safe disposal of maximum floods and thus provide
protection against damage due to floods .
High water training can also be called Training for Discharge.

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b.Training for depth or low water training
To provide sufficient water depth in navigable channels during low water
periods and to maintain aquatic life.
It may be accomplished by concentrating and enhancing the flow in the
desired channel by closing other channels by the process of bandalling, by
contracting the width of the channel with the help of groynes, etc.
c. Mean Water Training or Training for Sediment:
Aims at efficient disposal of suspended and bed load, and thus, to
preserve the channel in good shape. The maximum accretion capacity
of a river occurs in the vicinity of mean water or dominant discharge.

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Guide Banks (or Guide Bunds)
Rivers in flood plains submerge very large area during flood
periods. When some structure is to be constructed across such a
river (e.g. bridge, weir, etc) it is very expensive to construct the
work spanning the whole width of the river. Therefore, guide
banks are constructed to confine the flow of the water within a
reasonable waterway.
They extend both upstream and downstream of the abutments of
the structure.
They are generally provided in pairs symmetrical in plan.
Upstream curved head is provided to have a bellmouth entry and
the downstream curved head to have smooth exit.

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 Cont…..
The main parts of a guide bank are:
1.Upstream curved head or impregnable head
2.Downstream head
3.Shank or straight portion which joins the two curved heads
4. Slope protection and launching apron

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Principles and Factors Governing the Design of Guide Banks
Top level of guide banks
i. The top level of guide banks
is governed by HFL, afflux, velocity head, and freeboard. It can
be obtained by adding all these four values.
(ii) Shape of guide banks in plan: guide banks are generally
provided in pairs, symmetrical in plan and may either be kept
parallel or may diverge slightly upstream of the works.

(iii) Length of the guide banks: Spring and Gales have

correlated the length of the guide bank with the length of
structure between the abutments (L).
iv) The shank portion and section of bund: The straight portion
of the guide bank is called the shank portion. The guide banks
should have a minimum top width of 4 meters so as to provide
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(vi) Slope pitching:
The sloping water side of the entire guide bund as well as the sloping
near side of the curved portions are pitched with one man stone.

The thickness of the pitching on the river side may be calculated by

the formula:
t = 0.06 Q1/3

Where:- t is the thickness of stone pitching in meters

Q is the discharge in cumecs.
(vii) Launching apron: Whenever, a sloping face is protected by
stone pitching against scour, the pitching is extended beyond the toe
on the bed in the form of packed stones

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The launching apron is generally laid in a width equal to 1.5 times the
depth of scour (D) below the original bed. The total scour below HFL
is taken as xR, where R is the Lacey's normal scoured depth given by
equation
R = 0.47 (Q/f) 1/3
Where Q is the discharge and f is the silt factor; and values of x are
tabulated for different places,

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 Figure 7: Launching apron details

Figure 2: Launching apron details

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 Generally, a scour slope of 2: 1 is assumed and the
thickness of the launched apron should be_1.25 t, where t
is the thickness of stone pitching. Then the volume of
stone required in the launched apron per unit length
perpendicular to paper
= (4+1) 1/2 . D. (1.25 t) = 1.25 t x .D = 2.8 t. D.
If the width of unlaunched apron is 1.5 D, then the
thickness of the unlaunched (T) apron is given as:
T = 2.8 t.D/ (1.5D) = 1.87 t; say 1.9t
Hence T = 1.9 t
The width of the apron (1.5 D) will be different in different
portions of guide bank, depending upon the values of D

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Design consideration in construction of guide .
1.Length of Clear Waterway: to be provided between the guide banks
or the abutments of the work is given by:
p=4.75 Q1/2
where P = Lacey’s Regime perimeter (m)
Q = maximum discharge (m³/s)
The length, L, of the overall waterway (or length of the work or the
structure) between the guide banks or the abutments of the work is
obtained by adding the thickness of the piers (in case of bridges) to P.
Generally, L≈ 1.1 to 1.25 P

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 Guide bank

Guide bank

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 Figure 9: Layout of Guide bank
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The main parts of a guide bank are:
a. U/s curved head or impregnable head
b. D/s curved head
c. Shank or a straight portion which join two curved heads
d. Slope and bed protection
U/S curved head:
The u/s end curvature has a central angle of 1200 to 1400. It is suggested that the value
of R can be calculated from the relation R = 0.45 L depending on river velocities.
D/s curved head: The curved d/s head ensures safety of approach embankment. The
radius of curvature of the d/s head may be kept as half of the u/s radius with a central
angle of 450 to 600.
Section of guide bund and material of construction
The material of construction of guide bank is the river sand available locally. Side slope
is kept 2:1 to 3:1. It should have sufficient top width which should not be less than 4m
so as to provide sufficient carriage way. The free board usually adopted for the design
varies from 1.25 to 1.5m.

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The stone pitching is 1 m above HFL. The thickness of stone pitching
(T) as recommended by Inglis is given by:
T=0.06Q1/3

Slope and toe protection

The toe of the slope is protected by the Launching apron.
The quantity of stone in the apron should be sufficient to cover a
scoured face fully after the apron fans out while launching at a slope
of 2:1 with a thickness of 1.25T. It is generally laid in a width equal
to 1.5 D where D is the depth of maximum anticipated scour below
the bed, and has a thickness of 1.9 T

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Bank erosion protection
River bank protection may be carried out by
Planting
Faggoting (Faggots or Fascines are bundles of branches, usually
willows)
Thatching
Mattresses, and articulated concrete mattresses
Rubble stone pitching
Watt ling
Gabions
Bagged concrete and concrete slabs, Flexible Brick pitching
Asphalt slabs, asphalt, asphalted concrete
Soil cement blocks
Geotextiles:Woven or non woven fabrics, meshes, grids, strips,
heets and composites of different shapes & constituents

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 Example
1.The following hydraulic data pertains to bridge
site of river
Maximum discharge=5000 cumecs
highest flood level=104m
River bed level=100m
Average diameter of river(d) =0.1mm
Design and sketch bell’s bund (guide
bank)including the launching apron to the train
the river .

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 ASSIGNMENT.
2.For a bridge construction the provision of guide bank was required and while
designing it is decided that the design flood discharge is to be increased by 25% for
the design of launching apron. On the site where the bridge is to be laid the
following data is given:
Maximum flow of the river =6000 m3/s
Crest level of guide bank =1256.5m
Height of guide bank=6m
Mean size of the river bed material is 0.5 mm.
Permanent river banks are separated by 450m
Side slope of the guide bank is 2:1
Provide 30% allowance for piers ,bridge and abutments
Provide 1.5m and 5m of freeboard and top width respectively
Neglect the effect of afflux and velocity head
A.Perform all the hydraulic designs of guide bank and launching apron.
B.Sketch the appropriate diagrams with dimension .

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