Sill-Controlled Flow Transitions and Extent of Erosion

Abstract

The distance is determined over which scour will develop downstream of a sill-controlled flow transition in an erodible open channel, in which the sediment motion is impending. This determination is based on the concept of dynamic similarity that makes it possible to relate the erosion length in an erodible channel to the total length of flow transition in a fixed-bed channel. Accordingly, prediction of the limiting extent of erosion becomes possible for a wide variety of sill-controlled flow transitions, including the cases present in the hydraulic jump stilling basins, and the natural hydraulic jump.