Study of flow characteristics in curved open channels having erodible bed and rigid walls

Naturally, rivers are rarely straight and more likely to take a winding course, called meandering. Because of presence of strong secondary currents in meanders, flow in river meanders is a complicated phenomenon, making it interesting for many researchers and engineers to investigate the equations governing this kind of flow. Many studies have been carried out by different researches during the last 45 years, and consequently, different relations have been published to determine the hydraulic parameters of the flow. In this research, a laboratory trapezoidal channel with a central radius curve of 5 m and central angle of 94 degrees was used to measure the hydraulic parameters for 120, 180, and 230 l/sec flows over a sandy movable bed having rigid walls. The results of this experiment were compared to the results of different models developed to estimate the flow characteristics. Finally, the most suitable model to determine the flow characteristics was introduced.