Example of locating a Hydraulic Jump

Problem
The spillway from a reservoir discharges into a rectangular channel that is 100m wide.
The flow at the bottom of the spillway is supercritical and has a very high velocity
hence erosive power. Some way downstream from the toe of the spillway a hydraulic
jump will occur, determine the distance from the toe of the spillway to the jump. This
will enable the determination of the length of channel for which some erosion
protection will be required.
The data fro the problem are:
Q = 200 m3/s
Manning n = 0.025
Width of channel =100m

Bed slope = 0.0035

Depth at toe of spillway = 0.175m

Solution
We do not have any information regarding the channel downstream of the jump
therefore we shall assume that it is long and has the same value of Mannings n as the
reach immediately downstream of the spillway.
Since the channel is long the depth downstream of the jump will be normal depth
therefore this must be determined from the uniform flow equation:

Q = AC mi
In our case, since we are using the Manning formula for roughness, we need to adjust
this by putting C = m1/6/n, giving
m2/ 3
Q=A
i
n
Therefore
100d n

100
2
+
d
n
200 = 100d n
0.025

2/3

0.0035

To solve this for dn we can use some methodical iterative scheme, like a fixed point
iteration, the bisection method or Newton-Raphson. Although it is often quickly done
by trial and error
First rearrange to give a function f(dn) = 0

 100d n

100
2
d
+
n
f (d n ) = 200 100d n
0.025

2/3

100d n

f (d n ) = 200 23.66d n
100
+
2
d
n

0.0035 = 0
2/3

=0

Try dn = 0.5, this gives f(dn) = 125.9

Try dn = 1.0, this gives f(dn) = -33.5
So the solution is between 0.5 and 1.0, and slightly nearer 1.0.
Try dn = 0.9, this gives f(dn) = 3.8
So the solution is between 0.9 and 1.0
Try dn = 0.91, this gives f(dn) = 0.194
This is sufficiently accurate for our calculation.
For interest, the fixed point iteration using this function,
2/3

100
d
n

d n = 200 23.66

100 + 2d n

produced the following solutions for each iteration starting with dn = 1.0:
dn

1.05

0.95

dn

1
0.856386
0.947851
0.886911
0.926346
0.900331
0.91728
0.906146
0.91342
0.908651
0.911771

0.9

0.85

0.8

0.75
1

10

11

iteration count

As you can see this is not a very fast convergence to the solution.
So the solution is, normal depth dn = 0.91m
The channel is rectangular so the critical depth is given by
dc = 3

Q2 3
200 2
=
= 0.74m
gb 2
9.81 100 2

Since dn > dc then the slope is mild.

We have to find the shape of the backwater curve from the spillway to the jump. This
can be achieved by integrating the backwater curve as shown in Table 1.
Slope
n
Q
B
Initial d

0.0035
0.025
200
100
0.175

dy

0.075

x
(m)

d
(m)

d_mean
(m)

0.00

0.175

7.14

0.250

m_mean
(m)

C_mean

v_mean
(m/s)

J_mean

Fn_mean Dd/Dx

Dx
(m)

d_1=d_conj
(m)
2.072969

0.2125 0.211601 30.87779 9.411765 0.439069 42.49269 0.010497 7.144567

1.685415
0.2875 0.285856 32.46519 6.956522
14.86

0.325

1.429863
0.3625 0.359891

22.86

0.16062 17.15843 0.009724 7.713081

33.7356 5.517241 0.074318 8.559866 0.009368 8.006252

0.400

1.241782
0.4375 0.433705 34.80105 4.571429 0.039785 4.869191 0.009378 7.997396

30.86

0.475

1.094129
0.5125

38.46

0.5073 35.72214 3.902439 0.023525

3.02907 0.009869 7.599461

0.550

0.973336
0.5875 0.580677 36.53556 3.404255 0.014951 2.010793 0.011329 6.620181

45.08

0.625

0.87175
0.6625 0.653837 37.26532 3.018868 0.010037 1.402275

49.70

0.700

0.784677
0.7375

50.05

0.01625 4.615282

0.72678 37.92805 2.711864 0.007034 1.016494 0.214266 0.350031

0.775

0.709043
0.8125 0.799508 38.53575 2.461538 0.005103 0.760188 -0.006686

The method of integration used is the same as that worked out in the example of the
trapezoidal irrigation channel. Since the channel has a rectangular cross-section the
conjugate depth can be computed using the simple explicit expression:
d1
1 1
= +
1 + 8Fn2
d2
2 2
This conjugate depth is in the last column of table 1.
2.5

depth (m)

Conjugate depth line

1.5

normal depth = 0.91m

Hydraulic jump position

0.5

flow profile from spillway

0
0.00

10.00

20.00

30.00

40.00

50.00

60.00

distance, x (m)