Lateral Depth-Averaged Velocity Distributions and Bed Shear in Rectangular Compound Channels

This paper presents a method to predict depth-averaged velocity and bed shear stress for overbank flows in straight rectangular two-stage channels. An analytical solution to the depth-integrated Navier–Stokes equation is presented that includes the effects of bed friction, lateral turbulence, and secondary flows. The Shiono and Knight method accounts for bed shear, lateral shear, and secondary flow effects via three coefficients, f, λ, and Γ, respectively. A novel boundary condition at the internal wall between the main channel and the adjoined floodplain is proposed and discussed along with other conventional boundary conditions. The analytical solution using the novel boundary condition gives good prediction of both lateral velocity distribution and bed shear stress when compared with experimental data for different aspect ratios.