Introduction of the educational software for calculating water surface profiles in open channels

Prediction of hydraulic behavior of rivers particularly determination of flow stages (water profile) during flood events is necessary for flood mitigation projects. Students usually start learning water profile calculation using simple examples of gradually varied flow in open channels. The objective of this study is to provide an educational computer program for water profile calculation in Excel.
The program meant to be simple and open source using Excel software abilities which is familiar to students. The excel program is equipped with a help and manual. One example was designed and solved by the excel program and the results were compared with the results of HEC-RAS professional program.
The results show almost no difference. According to the Nash-Sutcliffe criterion the model efficiency is 0.997.
It can be concluded that the spread sheet program is an appropriate tool for educational purpose.