Open Channel Hydraulics and Design
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Streamable MP4/PDF
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Agenda
Webinar instructions will be emailed 24-48 business hours before the date of the webinar.
Please log into the webinar 15 – 30 minutes before start time.
Thursday, June 12, 2025
8:30 am – 4:00 pm CDT
Agenda:
Presented by William Rahmeyer
Understanding Open Channel Flow
- Course intro and expectations
- Software and numerical methods
- Types of liquid flows and open channel flow types
- Design factors and variables
- Applications of open channel flow design
- Steady and unsteady flow
- Uniform and normal flow
- Reynold’s number and laminar and turbulent flow
- Conservation principles
- Conservation of mass – continuity
- Hydraulic radius and hydraulic efficiency
- Effective diameter
- Channel shapes and properties
- Conservation of energy and energy equation
- Local energy losses
- Specific energy diagram
- Energy correction factor
- Example of flow under a bridge
- Froude number and critical depth
- Manning’s equation and normal depth
- Hydraulic elements chart for partially full circular pipe
- Hydraulic and energy grade lines
- Additional/extra slides on Hydraulic Toolbox
Fundamentals of Open Channel Flow
- Energy and hydraulic grade lines
- Review example of the application of the energy equation
- First steps to solve open channel flow problems
- Example of solving converging flow channels with energy and continuity
- Example of solving diverging flow channels with energy and continuity
- Preview of flow profiles in channels
- Momentum
- Channel resistance and resistance coefficients
- Friction loss and shear stress
- Chow resistance tables
- Resistance values from photographs
- Strickler flow resistance equations
- Size distribution of bed material
- Limerino’s flow resistance equation
- ASCE flow resistance equations and method
- Turbulent flow resistance
Principles of Uniform Flow
- Cowan resistance method
- Curved channel flow resistance
- Bedforms and bedform flow resistance
- Resistance from sediment transport
- Vegetative flow resistance
- Solving flow depth for bed forms or for vegetation
- Compound channels
- Conveyance method for compound channels
- Compositing resistance values for compound channels
- Flow resistance for steep or vertical channel sides
- Solving flow depth in channels with variable resistance
- Channel slope definitions
- Review of open channel software
- Review
- Additional slides of a compound channel example using HEC-RAS
Principles of Nonuniform Flow
- Gradually varied flow (GVF) equations and GVF profiles
- Standard step method to solve GVF
- Solution of a channel given only two flow depths
- Rapidly varied flow
- Hydraulic jumps
- Channel transitions
- Types of channel transitions
- Locations of flow control in channel transitions
- Non-prismatic channel flow
- Review and examples of the types of open channel flow
- Review of calculating flow depths in open channels
- Additional reference slides for channel transitions
Design of Open Channel Flow
- Composite or multiple GVF flow profiles
- GVF profile assignment
- Open channel design
- Channel discharge
- Flood and storm runoff
- Sedimentation, erosion, and deposition
- Sediment transport
- Channel erosion and deposition
- Channel response
- Channel bank and bed protection
- Stable channel design
- Example of maximum tractive or shear force method
- Riprap for channel bed and side protection
- Example of permissible maximum velocity method
- Hydraulic structures in open channels:
- Culverts, measurement and control structures, gates and drop structures
- Aquatic organism passage
- Principles of open channel design
- Review
- Additional reference slides for channel transitions and optional assignment
Webinar Instructions
All attendees must log-on through their own email – attendees may not watch together if they wish to earn continuing education credit. HalfMoon Education Inc. must be able to prove attendance if either the attendee or HalfMoon Education Inc. is audited.
Certificates of completion can be downloaded in PDF form upon passing a short quiz. A link to the quiz will be sent to each qualifying attendee immediately after the webinar. The certificate can be downloaded from the Results page of the quiz upon scoring 80% or higher.
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Windows 10 or higher, macOS 11 or higher, Linux, Google Chrome OS
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Google Chrome (most recent 3 versions)
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Internet connection: 1 Mbps or better
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Credits
Engineers
6.5 PDHs
Landscape Architects
6.5 HSW CE Hours
LACES - Landscape Architecture Continuing Education System
6.5 HSW PDHs
Floodplain Managers
6.5 ASFPM CECs
Continuing Education Information
This webinar is open to the public and is designed to qualify for 6.5 PDHs for professional engineers and 6.5 HSW continuing education hours for landscape architects in all states that allow this learning method. Please refer to specific state rules to determine eligibility.
HalfMoon Education is an approved continuing education sponsor for engineers in Florida (Provider License No: CEA362), Indiana (License No. CE21700059), Maryland, and New Jersey (Approval No. 24GP00049300). HalfMoon Education is an approved continuing education sponsor for landscape architects in Florida (License Number PVD124). HalfMoon Education is deemed an approved continuing education sponsor for New York engineers and landscape architects via its registration with the Landscape Architecture Continuing Education System (LA/CES). Other states do not preapprove continuing education providers or courses.
The Landscape Architecture Continuing Education System has approved this course for 6.5 HSW PDHs. Only full participation is reportable to the LA CES.
The Association of State Floodplain Managers has approved this course for 6.5 CECs for floodplain managers.
Attendance will be monitored, and attendance certificates will be available after the webinar for those who attend the entire course and score a minimum 80% on the quiz that follows the course (multiple attempts allowed).
*On-Demand Credits*
The preceding credit information only applies to the live presentation. This course in an on-demand format is not pre-approved by any licensing boards and may not qualify for the same credits; please consult your licensing board(s) to ensure that a structured, asynchronous learning format is appropriate. The following pre-approvals may be available for the on-demand format upon request:
6.0 HSW PDHs (LA CES)
Speakers
William J. Rahmeyer
Emeritus Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Utah State University (USU)Professor Rahmeyer was on the faculty at USU for 31 years and spent 10 years as research faculty at Colorado State University. Professor Rahmeyer is the past Department Head of Civil and Environmental Engineering at USU as well as the senior professor of the Hydraulics and Fluid Mechanics program of the Utah Water Research Laboratory. He also served at USU as the director of the Hydro Composite Modeling Program, the division head of Water Engineering, the interim division head of both the Structures Division and the Transportation Division, and as the Undergraduate Curriculum division head. Professor Rahmeyer is currently working part time as a senior associate for Ayres and associates in Fort Collins Colorado, where his primary role is to conduct national workshops in hydraulics, culvert flow, and urban drainage for the National Hydraulic Institute of FWHA. He is a fellow and lifetime member in the American Society of Civil Engineers. Professor Rahmeyer has been a member of several professional societies, and serve on committees for the American Society of Engineering Educators (ASEE), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the International Association of Hydraulic Research (IAHR), the Association of State Dam Safety Officers (ASDSO), the Instrument Society of America (ISA), the American Water Works Association (AWWA), the International Erosion Control Association (IECA), and the American Society of Heating and Refrigeration Association (ASHRAE). He has regularly attended and presented at the annual conferences of ASDSO, ASEE, ASCE, IAHR, ASCE National Department Heads, and the Transportation Research Board (TRB). In the past, he has been a member of the United States Committee on Large Dams (USCOLD) and the International Committee on Large Dams (ICOLD). Over the last several years, Professor Rahmeyer has created and presented a workshop on open channel flow for HalfMoon Education and finished serving on the Bluestone Dam UASCE IEPA and on several 100% DDR review panels for the USACE. He has been on the board of directors for the Utah Floodplain and Storm Water Management Association since 1986. Professor Rahmeyer was a member the 2008 Bettelle “Final Independent Peer Review Report for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the Vegetation Policy for Local Flood Damage Reduction Systems” which reviewed many of the guidelines and policies for management of levees, floodwalls, embankment dams, and appurtenant structures. Some of his recent awards include the AHRAE Technical/Symposium Paper Award, the ASHRAE Crosby Field Award for Research, and the South Pacific Division Regional Project Delivery Team Award from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He has received the Idaho Transportation Department 2012 Excellence in Transportation Award and the 2011 ACEC of Idaho Engineering Excellence Grand Award for the I-84 New York Canal Modeling and Modification. Professor Rahmeyer further received an honorable mention at the 2012 National AECE award ceremonies for his work with the I-84 New York Canal.
6.5 Knowledge Points
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