CHAPTER ONE

RIVER
ENGINEERING
 1. RIVER AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS

1.1 RIVERS
 rivers are natural channels which carry a huge
quantity of water drained by the catchment as
run off.
 The discharge in a river increases as
it flows from the mountains to the
sea. Why?
 rivers are formed along more or less
well- defined channels, depending up
on the topography of the region.
 rivers are considered as an
important part of Hydrologic cycle.
 the rivers carry a huge amount of silt or
sediment which is washed down from the
catchment area and also eroded from the
bed and banks of rivers
• The discharge in rivers varies between
wide limits, i.e. during the monsoon
(wet season) the discharge is very large,
where as in other seasons, the
discharge is very less.
• Any side effect of this variation?
• rivers provide water for various
purposes like drinking, irrigation,
industrial, hydropower, navigation,
recreation etc.
1.2 RIVER CLASSIFICATION
 Rivers can be classified based on variation of
discharge, the location of reach, plan-form and
stability
I Classification based on variation of discharge
A. Perennial Rivers:
 These rivers have adequate discharge through
out the year.
 These rivers obtain their supply from melting of
snow and from precipitation.
B. Non- Perennial Rivers:
 These rivers obtain the supply from rain and the
flow is high during and after raining season, but
they carry little flow in non-rainy season.
C. Flashy Rivers :
 The River in which there is a sudden
increase discharge.
 The River stage rises and then falls in a very
short period. However, a small flow in a
flashy river may continue after the flood.
D. Virgin Rivers :
 are those rivers which get completely dried
up due to large evaporation and percolation
losses before joining another river or sea.
Such rivers exist in arid regions.
II Classification based on the location
of reach
A. Mountainous rivers:
 These river flow in hilly and
mountainous regions.
B. Rivers in flooded plains:
 After the boulder stage, a river enters
the flooded plains having alluvial soil.
The bed and banks of rivers in flood
plains are made up of sand & silt.
C. Delta rivers:
 when a river enters in to deltaic plain, It splits up in
to a number of small branches due to very flat
slopes. There is a shoal(sandbank in a stretch of
water that is visible at low tide) formation and
braiding of the channels in the delta rivers

D. Tidal rivers:
 just before joining sea or an ocean, the river
becomes as tidal river. In a Tidal River there are
periodic changes in water levels due to tides. The
river receives the Sea water during flood tides, but
during ebb tides it delivers in to the sea.
Identify the river types?
III Classification based on plan-form
A. Straight rivers:
 These Rivers are Straight In plan and have cross sectional
shape of a trough.
 These rivers may exist in the mountainous regions but they
are rare in flood plains.
B. Meandering rivers:
 Theses Rivers follow a winding, crooked course; they
consist of a series of bends of alternate curvature in the
plan.
 The successive curves are connected by Small straight
reaches of the river, called cross rivers or crossings
C. Braided rivers:
 A braided river flows in two or more channels around
alluvial Islands developed due to deposition of silt.
Identify the river types?
IV Classification based on
Stability of the river
A. Stable rivers: The alignment, slope and regime
of these rivers show little or no variation from year
to year
B. Aggrading rivers: in these rivers the
sediment load entering the river is greater than the
sediment load leaving the river.
C. Degrading rivers: opposite to the aggrading
rivers
1.4.1 Stream Form and Classifications
Based on the channel pattern (plan form) streams can be
classified as :
a. Straight Channels
b. Braided Stream
c. Meandering Channel

a. Straight Channels
 Sinuosity of straight reach varies from a value of unity up
to 1.5

 What is Sinuosity?
Sinuosity
 Sinuosity or sinuosity index is the ratio of the curvilinear
length (along the curve) and the distance (straight line)
between the end points of the curve.

 In studies of rivers, the sinuosity index is similar but not

identical to the general form given above, being given by:
b. Braided Stream
 is generally wide with poorly defined and unstable banks,
and is characterized by a steep, shallow water course with
multiple channel divisions around alluvial islands.
 There are two primary causes of braided condition
formation:
(1) overloading, that is, the stream may be supplied with
more sediment than it can carry resulting in deposition of
part of the load.
(2) steep slopes, which produce a wide shallow channel where
bars/islands form readily.

What is bar?
B
a
r
s
c. Meandering Channel
is one that consists of alternate bends,
giving an S-shaped appearance to the plan
view of the river.

consists of a series of deep pools in the

bends and shallow crossings in the short
straight reach connecting the bends
 the main causes of the meandering process
is the slight departures from symmetry of
flow and bank erosion which tend to
deviate the bulk of the flow to one side or
the other of the channel.

 The longitudinal profile of the bed of a

meandering stream includes pools at (or
slightly downstream of) the extremities of
bends and riffles at the inflections between
bends.
Figure 1.4 Features associated with meandering rivers
Features associated with meandering rivers
a. Thalweg
 is the longitudinal outline of a river bed from source to
mouth
b. riffle/crossing
 Is a short, relatively shallow and coarse-bedded length of
stream over which the stream flows at higher velocity and
higher turbulence than it normally does in comparison to a
pool.
c. pool
 Is the depth at the outer side of the bend
d. Channel bar
 is an elevated region of sediment (such as
sand or gravel) that has been deposited by
the flow.
The primary types of bars are point bars,
middle bars, and alternate bars.
 Point bars form on the inside
(convex) bank of bends in a
meandering stream.
 Middle bar is the term given to areas
of deposition lying within, but not
connected to the banks.
 Alternate bars are depositional
features that are positioned
successively down the river on
opposite sides.
 1.5 Mechanism of
meander development-
Theories
Reading assignment
helper
 RECAP
River Definition
River classes:
discharge~ Perennial, Non-Perennial, Flashy, Virgin
location~ mountainous, flood plain, delta, tidal
plan form~ straight, braided, meandering
stability~ stable, aggrading, degrading
Sinuosity and or SI
Features of meandering:
Thalweg
Pool
Bar
Riffle
 1.6 Meander parameters
and their relationships
Meanders can be classified as:
Regular-there is a series of bends approximately with
same curvature and frequency
Irregular-meanders are deformed in shape and vary in
amplitude and frequency
• Meanders can also be classified as:
– Simple-the bend has a single radius of
curvature.
– Compound-different radii and varying
angles
Geometry of meanders
Meander length (ML):
 is the tangential distance between the two consecutive
corresponding points of a meander. It is also called the
axial length.
Meander width (MB):
 is the distance between the outer edges of the one
clockwise loop and the adjacent anticlockwise loop of
the meander.
The meander ratio(MR):
 is the ratio of the meander width to meander length.
i.e. MR=MB/ML
Crossings:
The short straight reaches of a river connecting two
consecutive clockwise and anticlockwise loop.
Sinuosity: is the ratio of the thalweg length to the valley
length. The thalweg length is the length of the river
along the line of the maximum depth.

Tortuosity: is a property of curve being tortuous

(twisted; having many turns)
is the ratio of the length of the channel measured along
the curve to the meander length.
i.e. Tortuosity = curved length of river/ meandering
length

…After Joglekar
1.7 General features of meandering
 Fully developed meandering has definite
pattern of curvature, length, width and
depth for a constant discharge.
 the size of bends, the meander length,
meander width and degree of sinuosity
increases with an increase in discharge
and vice versa.
 The meanders progress very slowly down
stream with the passage of time. The
rate of progress is very slow, because of
the resistance of material at the banks.
every phase of meandering depends
upon the combined effect of:
a) Discharge and hydraulic parameters
of river
b) Sediment load and its characteristics
c) Relative erodibility of bed and banks
of river
d) Slope of river.
1.8 Cutoff in meandering river
 is a process by which an alluvial river flowing along curves
(loops) abandons a particular loop and establishes its main
flow along a comparatively straight and shorter channel
 is usually occurs when the meander of the river reaches an
extreme condition and develops into a horse – shoe bend
 When a cutoff starts developing, banks of the main
channel starts caving in and new channels are formed and
old channels gets silted up.
 What is the advantage of artificial cutoff in
meandering river?
 Easy navigation
 Increase flow velocity on the main channel
 Cutoff place

Cutoff in meandering river