# critical_depth: Critical depth In rivr: Steady and Unsteady Open-Channel Flow Computation

## Description

Calculate the critical depth.

## Usage

 1 critical_depth(Q, yopt, g, B, SS) 

## Arguments

 Q Flow rate [L^3 T^{-1}]. yopt Initial guess for normal depth [L]. g Gravitational acceleration [L T^{-2}]. B Channel bottom width [L]. SS Channel sideslope [L L^{-1}].

## Details

The critical depth is the water depth at which a channel flow regime will transition from supercritical to subcritical (or vice versa). Calculation of the critical depth is based on a specific energy formulation, i.e.

E = y + z + \frac{Q^2}{2gB^2y^2}

where y is the flow depth, z is the elevation relative to some datum (assumed to be 0), and the last term represents kinetic energy. More specifically, the function operates by finding the point where the derivative of specific energy w.r.t. y is zero, i.e. y = y_c when

\frac{dE}{dy} = 1 - \frac{Q^2}{gA^3}\frac{dA}{dy} = 0

.

## Value

The critical depth y_c [L].

## Examples

 1 2 critical_depth(250, 2, 32.2, 100, 0) # rectangular channel critical_depth(126, 1, 9.81, 6.1, 1.5) # trapezoidal channel with sideslope 3H:2V 

rivr documentation built on May 30, 2017, 7:59 a.m.