Discharge Assessment in Straight Open Channels with Partial Ice Cover

Abstract

This paper develops an analytical model for discharge assessment in straight channels with partial ice cover. The flow section of a partly covered channel was laterally divided into several homogeneous subsections, which were further classified into six basic elements according to the solid boundary conditions. In each basic element, the momentum balance, which accounts for momentum exchange between the adjacent subsections, was analyzed. Then, a linear system with a tridiagonal coefficient matrix was presented to estimate discharge in the partly covered channel. Experimental data collected from the literature were used to examine the performance of the proposed method and compare its accuracy with traditional methods for discharge assessment in composite or compound channels. The comparative results indicated that the proposed method produces satisfactory predictions, and the traditional methods were shown to be inappropriate for stage-discharge predictions in partly covered channels. In addition, the main parameters presented in the proposed model were discussed.