CanalFalls

Falls
Location of Canal
and
12.1.
Definition
Whenever the available natural
ground slope is
ground .

DESIGNED SLOPE stee

Definition.
12.1.1.
bed slope of
the designed
than d i f f e r e n c e is
the
the channel, verti-
constructing
adjusted by in the canal
falls' or 'drops'
cal as VERTICAL
suitable intervals,
bed at DROP
12.1. AVAILABLE
shown in Fig. GROUND SLOPE-
natural
Such a drop in a

not be stable
canal bed will
order to
theretore, in Fig. 12.1
and,
retain this drop, masonry
a
constructed. Such
structure is
structure is called a
canal fall or a canal drop.
a pucca
12.1.2. Proper location. The location of a fall in a canal depends upon the

topography of the country through

which the canal is passing. In case ofthe m
the main
area, the site of a fall is determined
canal, which does not directly irrigate any
considerations of economy in 'cost of excavation and filling' versus 'cost offall Th
excavation and filling on two Sides of a tall should be tried to be balanced, becaus
the unbalanced earthwork is quite costly. By providing a larger drop in one sten
the quantity of unbalanced earth work increases, but at the same time, the' number
of fall reduces. An economy between these two factors has to be worked out before
deciding the locations and extent of falls.
In case of branch canals and distributary channels, the falls are located with
consideration to commanded area. The procedure is to fix the FSL required at the
head of the off-taking channels and outlets and mark them on the L-secton
ed
canal. The FSL of the canal can then be marked, as to cover all the comma
points, thereby deciding suitable locations for falls in canal FSL, and hene.
canal beds.
combinang

The location
it with
of the falls may also be influenced by the possibilhty athons
a bridge, regulator, or some other masonry work, slnce ined with bined with a

Oten result in economy and better regulation. When a fall is com0

regulator and a bridge, it is called a
fall-regulator with road Dr
12.2. Types of Falls ofthe

Varlous types of falls have been designed and tried since.

1dea of falls f such falls,
construction' came into
were used in olden days and thosebeing.which areimportant
The being useu y in moderm da)
used in
modern
g
described below: "jects

onpro
(1) Ogee Falls. The 'Ogee type fall' was constructed in olden days
g conve

ke
Ganga canal. The water was s
concave curves, as gradually led down
shown in Fig. 12.2.
392
A N A LF A

The p e r t o r m a n c e of

fall was found OR AW DOWN 393

an oge
n t h e following major
h a v et h e U/S BED WATER SURFACE
eecis
)There was heavy

rAW-doWn on the
cam side, resultins
C,C.:2: DS BEO0
ter depths, higher
RUB BLE MASONARY
ialies and nd consequent
erosion. Draw-down
Pig. 12.2. Ogee fal.
the supp-
also affect
distributary, situat just upstream
u l a

of fall.
saath
) Due to
Due
mo
transition, the kinetic energy of the
causing erosion of downstream bed not at all flow was
banks. and
A net' was soon added to restrict
'raised crest
ATa the draw-down
and a
was
provided
on the downstream side.
Later, it was converted intolong protection
fall, called a "Vertical Impact type'. a much better
pe

Rapids. In Western Yamuna canal, long rapids at slopes of 1 15 to 1:20

rontly sloping glacis) with
boulder and hence
factorily, but were very expensive, facings,
were provided.
They worked quite
became obsolete.
Trapezoidal Notch Falls. The trapezoidal notch fall
94. It consists of a number of trapezoidal notches constructed designed
was
by Ried
in a high crested
al across the channel with a smooth entrance and a flat circular lip
GOwYnstream from each notch to spread out the falling jet (See Fig. 12.3).projecting

"OP OF CANAL BANK us FSL NOTCH SIDE WA LL

PIER U/s, FSL NOTCH
PIER

/77TTTSILL

U/S CANAL
SILL BED

FOUNDATION
WALL
FORONT ELEVATION
BFOUNDATION WALL

NOTCH
PIER

LIP

Notch fall
Fig. 12.3. Trapezoidal
Thee
notches could be
De designed to
maintain the
normal water depth
in the

alchannel design
am channel at any two discharges, as the
variation at
intermediate values

any remains practically

nce, t at
. Heneo1 channel
discharge relationship ofthe
nalirawdown
fected byN epth
Oduction of the fall.
In other words,
the fall. These
falls
there would
neither be

temainedor
ned heading
nor n g up ofup of water, a s the
wat
channel approaches
modern falls were

Aeveloped.
lon9ite quite popular simpler, economical, and better
 or
394 Type
F'alls

Well Syphon
(4) Falls
or

of a fall
Cylinder
This type
a
Well
Drops. well with
inlet
consists
of a n carrying
bottom,
at its inlet
well to a
pipe the
from cistern.
water a
well o r
d o w n s t r e a m
shown
well (as
in the
d o w n s t r e a m

The necessary
12.4) is 1.8 m
in Fig. greater
than
E
case of falls greater
than
discharges
and for The water falls
cumecs.

0.29 a
inlet well, through
into the
trapezoidal notch constructed

from
the well,
in the
steining of
n e a r the
bot
emerges
where it
dissipating
its energy in
tom,
turbulence inside
the well.

very
This type of falls
are

dropps
useful for affecting larger
They a r e
for smaller discharges.
tail escapes
commonly used as
where high
for small canals, or
levelled smaller drains do out
fall into a low levelled bigger
drain.
(5) Simple Vertical Drop
Type and Sarda Type Falls.
A raised crest fall with a vertical
impact (Fig. 12.5) was first of all
introduced on Sarda Canal Sys- 2_
tem in U.P., owing to its
economy and simplicity. The
necessity for economic falls
arose because of the need of con-
struction of a large number of
smaller falls on the Sarda Canal
System. In that area, a thin
layer of sandy clay overlied a
stratum of pure sand. If the
canal bed was to be cut p
up to the sand
deep and
stratum,
the
seepage losses would have been
tremendous. Hence, the
cutting bhad to be keptdepth of
low, of a large number of smaller
necessitating the construction
alls. Hater
cu

the

In this type of a eeppoaf5

high crested fall, the
jump andnapPry
below. There is no clear hydraulic the
energydisspd
d i s s i p a t i o

iat
enters the
by the turbulent diffiusian
 ,US CANAL BED

-D/s HFL

U/S BEDO
PITC AING F LO OR OF WATER CUSHION
-D/S BED0

DROP WALL

ols BED PITCHING

Fig. 12.5. Simple Vertical Drop fal.

Tua types of crests which are used in Sarda type falls are shown a little later
12.10 (a) and (6).
in Figs.
Sarda type fall is a high crested fall, and if the discharge in the canal varies
hetween 50 to 100%), the water will head up on the upstream side at low
charres. The reach upstream of the crest will silt up as the clearer water will
in silt in the d/s discharge, there
oss downstream of the crest. Due to reduction
on d/s, so as to make up the silt loss. Hence, this
may be a tendency ot scouring in which discharge varies within a wide
De of fall is not quite suitable for canals costlier than Sarda type or glacis type
range. A trapezoidal notch fall, although
and, therefore, preferred for canals where the
fall, is free from such troubles varies
and also over a wide rangge.
discharge is very small
of a modern fall, a 'straight glacis'
6) Straight Glacis Falls. In this type
(generally sloping 2 : 1) is provided after a 'raised crest' (see Fig. 12.6). The
hydraulic jump is made to occur on the glacis, causing
sufficient energy dissipation.
UIS WING WALl 0/S WING WALL RETURN WALL ORTOP OF PITCHING
RETURN WING
SLOPE PITCHING
LU/S_HFL
UIS CA NAL
BED D/S HF) HFL
ROF ILE
S BED, WALL
UIS CURTAIN 77nnm
BED PITCHING
WALL

-TOE WALL
SECTION A-A DEFLECTOR WALL 0OR
D/S CURTAIN WALL
PROFILEWALL OR
DHAMAL
RETURN
WALL
SLOPE
DIS WING WALL PITC HING a

OIS GLASS CISTERN TOE WALLS

DEFLECTOR BEO
WALL PIT CHING

US WING
Fig 12.6. WALL
Straight Glacis fall' (without fluming), without Regulator and Bridge
Detais.
 IRRIGATION
AULIC ST
396
This type of
for
falls give very
economy.
are
They
good
performance

suitable
ance if
if not
up to 6G
not flumed

dissipation on a
flum d,
cum althoug AULICSa1bTSRUIUCTUNCTmArUoR
harge and they ma
flumed
Falls. The energy straig
(7)
Montague
due to
Type
nent of velocity remaining unaffalacg
vertical
component

cted. An mprove
be brought about in this type of fal Tem glacis
incomplete
dissipation
may.
ment in energy
replacing
the straight glacis by
a parabolic
glacis, commonl
(a)), by
M o n t a g u e Profile'.

RETURN
US WING WAL WING
D/S WING WALL
US FSL-- DIS HFL

U/S BED SLOPE

PITCHING
BE0
TI

TOE WALL

Fig. 12.7. (a) Montague Type fall.

CREST HORIZON TAL

LEVEL X

HALF GRAVITY
PARAB0 LA
X,Y) MONTA GUE
D/s EDGE PROFILE)
OF CREST

FREE FALL
UN DER GRA VITY

Fig. 12.7. (b) Montague Profile.

The Montague profile is given by the equation.

X=U +y .(12.

where X = The horizontal ordinate of any pont the

profile measured from the d/s edge
crest.
Y= Vertical ordinate easured
from the cres

level.
the crest.
Initial velocity ofwater léaving
The curved This
glacis is difficult to construct and it
costlier.

type of fall is, therefore, generally thereby renderidering

not adopted in India.
(8) Inglis F'alls or addedw
with

a baffle
Baffle Falls. A straight fall when
platform and a baffle wall as elacis type
'pe
falned by
and is called 'Englis Fall shown in Fig. 12.8,
or Wao for all a
and for drops of more than Baffle Fall'. They are quite suita 'onomy

1.5 m. They can be flumed easily a

CANALFALLS

wall is provided at a calculated 397

T h eb a f f l e
The a calculated distance from
calcu he toe
and
a

height so as to ensure the formation of

glac

the 8 n the baffle plattorm, as shown in

the
of
thejump on

F g 1 2 . 8 .

Comparison
of Different Types of
Extensive testingof various moder
Falls.
carried out in 1952 at Re-
falls w a s
s of and the following recom.
Station Poona,
ypes

search

mendations were made:

Vertical drop' falls are quite suitable

discharges upto
15 cumecs and drops upto
or this type of fall should not be
1 5 m e t r e s . But
5 metres.
flumed.

)For 'Straight glacis' type falls, the con- 2

usion was, that they work satisfactorily

for
all conditions, if unflumed; but in that case
they become costly. Even then, they can be
adopted suitably for discharges upto 60 cumecs
and drops upto 1.5 metres, and can even be
flumed.
(iüi) Baffle fall' or English fall' may be
Ised for all discharges when drop is more than
metres. This type of fall functions very
Satisfactorily, either flumed or unflumed, so
long as it is undrowned.
(w) Well type falls are suitable and
ncal for high drops and very low dis
ges. They can hence be easily used, as tail
Scapes of small
channels.
areeter and Non-Meter Falls. Meter falls
those which can be used to measure the
ischdCharge of the canal.
If the discharge cannot
asured accurately at the site of the fall,
aen itis
all is
Al hed called a:
non-meter fall. Vertical drop
not suitable
as a meter due to the for-
ispartial
s type vacuum under the nappe.
Aeice. pe fall
fal is quite
quit suitable as
ite suitable as a metering
ne a
of discharge
with

Tnust b
a sharp crest does not give a onstant
constant coefficient
coen
to be
to be used
used as meter
asflumed
ads, whil does reusonably; a fall
glacis fall orn oan - m e t e r
so
oroad crest
te fall,provided
is with a crest.
a flumed
Generally, used as a
used e t e r , while
Oroad
an
unflumed glacis fall is