Classifying River Waves by the Saint Venant Equations Decoupled in the Laplacian Frequency Domain

The Saint Venant equations are often combined into a single equation for ease of solution. As a result however, this single equation gives rise to several redundant nonlinear terms that may impose significant limitations on model analyses. In order to avoid this, our paper employs a new procedure that separates, in the Laplace frequency domain, the governing equation of water depth from that of flow velocity and thus enables us to consider two independent equations rather than two coupled ones. The so-obtained analytical solutions are valid for prismatic channels of any shape. Solution validity is assured by repeated comparison with the corresponding numerical solutions based on Crump’s algorithm, which accelerates solution convergence. Utilizing this new procedure, this paper will construct a basic wave spectrum for classifying subcritical flow waves in a prismatic channel. The spectrum is basically a contour plot of the normalized specific energy loss for a small water wave moving in the channel for a finite distance of approximately 100?m. The distance is chosen so that four distinct regions with different contour patterns that represent kinematic, diffusion, gravity, and dynamic waves in a river are shown in the spectrum. By incorporating the spectrum with Ferrick’s criteria and Manning’s formula, a single contour line is also generated, which serves as the boundary of the four regions. Example computations show that the spectrum predicts a similar trend of wave attenuation for waves propagating in a trapezoidal channel. When the rising speed of a wave is of concern, the full Saint Venant equations are solved numerically to reconstruct a similar spectrum good for supercritical flow as well.