An Experimental Investigation of Roughness Effect of flood plain with zigzag arrangement on velocity and shear stress in Compound Channel

The rough in flood plains in a compound canal and its impact on hydraulic parameters such as the shear stress and their estimation are one of the problems that have attracted the attention of engineers. The purpose of this study is determining of the shear stress distribution in the walls and bed of the semi-compound channel and the variation of the velocity profile for smooth and rough bed conditions. Four types of rigid wood roughness were used to investigate the effect of these parameters. These roughness elements were arranged with zigzag state with two distances of 4k and 8k in the floodplain. A total of 90 experiments have been conducted, with a flow rate in the range of 21.66-54.4 liters per second. A Preston tube with an external diameter of 3 mm that equipped with dynamic pressure sensors was used to compute the shear stress. In order to convert the difference between the static and dynamic pressure measured by the Preston tube to the shear stress values, the Patel calibration curve was used. The results were showed that the zigzag arrangement with the density of 4k, the shear stress is reduced due to the high roughness density and the greater area of ​​roughness. In a rough bed, the shear stress in flood plain was significantly higher than smooth bed, and the stress distribution is such that it has descending trend from the main channel toward the wall of the floodplain. The shear stress increase for roughness with a spacing of 8k is 27% to 38% higher than the similar hydraulic condition in a smooth bed. By increasing the flow velocity for arrangements of b2 and d2, the shear stress of the bed has decreased about 5% to 12% for discharges Q3 to Q5 compared to the roughness with a spacing of 8k.