Difference Methods of Flow in Branch Channel

Abstract

The present paper is a study of the methods for calculating flow in branch channels. In order to obtain the unsteady flow in the channels without branching, this paper provides the non‐equidistant difference schemes on interior mesh points and the corresponding difference schemes on boundary mesh points. The branching of channels is a usual natural phenomenon, The calculation of the unsteady flow at branching is an important problem to be solved. In 1957, Stoker (5) proposed a calculating method, but it can be applicable only to the simple circumstance when the branch‐point is basically stationary. In fact, the branch point of tidal river (or some inland rivers) is movable within a somewhat large area depending on the variation of tide height (or flood height). For the movable branch point, the implicit and semi‐implicit methods will be provided in this paper. Both methods have already found their use in practical problems.