Experimental and numerical investigation of water surface profiles in nonuniform flows

Within the scope of the thesis, water surface profiles in nonuniform flows were investigated both experimentally and numerically. For this purpose, a rectangular cross-section prismatic open channel experimental setup with a length of 9.2 m, a width of 25 cm and a height of 24 cm, located in the Hydraulics Laboratory of the Department of Civil Engineering of Dokuz Eylul University was used. In order to create various water surface profile types, the slope of the experimental setup has been made changeable. In addition, for the formation of profiles, a threshold was used at the upstream of the channel and a gate at the downstream of the channel. After the water surface profiles were created at different flow rates and slopes, numerical solutions of these profiles were carried out. Numerical solutions were made with the MATLAB package program. Within the scope of numerical solution; Euler Method, Improved Euler Method, Modified Euler Method, Fourth Order Runge Kutta Method, Standard Step Method, Direct Step Method and Differential Quadrature Method were used. The outcomes obtained as a result of numerical solutions made by using the initial condition obtained from the experimental study were compared with the experimental data and it was discussed which method gave more realistic and faster results in terms of the current profile.