HK01- CIVIL ENGINEERING PROGRAMME

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SABAH

COURSE
KA30902 HYDRAULICS
TITLE
Babagon River Measurement and Upgrade

DATE OF SUBMISSION
23rd December 2015

PREPARED FOR
Mrs. Janice Lynn Ayog

PREPARED BY
MOHAMED FARIHAN MAIL
(BK13160569)

Table of Contents

No.

TITLES

PAGE

1.0

Introduction

1-2

2.0

Methodology

3-5

3.0

Data and result

6-11

4.0

Discussion

12

5.0

Conclusion

12

1.0.

Introduction
Water is lifes mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without
water, Albert Szent. Water is one of the most important aspect in life. Without it,
life itself would not exist. Babagon River has been providing fresh clean water to
villagers. Over the course of decades however, development at Kampung Babagon
has increase. Thanks to the government, villagers of Babagon are now using clean
treated water. Today the river is used as recreational purpose, a place where
family hang out and enjoy quality time during the weekend. The flow of the river
however is not efficient. To make matter worse, during monsoon season, the river
cannot drain all the surface water flowing from the village. Thus, the river need to
be upgraded. For the purpose of research, students were given a task to turn this
beautiful natural flowing river into a channel. The goal of this research is to
compute a modeling as well as designing a proper channeling using advance
computer software. To do so, site visit was conducted. During site visit, students
recorded four cross-sections of the river with an interval of 5m between each
cross-section. The speed of the river was also recorded.
1.1.

River
According to Oxford dictionary, river is a large natural stream of water
flowing in a channel to the sea, a lake, or another river. Rivers are vital
providers of mineral water and nutrients to areas all around the earth. They
are critical components of the hydrological cycle, acting as water flow and
drainage channels for surface water. River offer environment, nutrition and
means of transport to countless organisms; they offer tracks for discovery,
business and recreation. Rivers are important to many of ecological issues
that concern community and they are analyzed by number of professionals
such as hydrologist, engineers, ecologist and geomorphologist. In basic
terms, the existence of a river relies upon three factors; the availability of
water surface, a channel in the ground and inclined surface. Active river
change over time, eroding and depositing sediments in predictable patterns
that are apparent in stream cross sections. Active eroding side of a river is

called scarp and the path of deepest channel is called thalweg, (Glenn
Merrick et. Al., 2008)
1.2.

Channel
Any liquid flow in conduit with a free surface can be called as channel.
This free surface is subjected to atmospheric pressure. Position of the free
water surface makes flow condition in open channel complex. Not to
mention depth of flow, discharge and the slopes of both channel bottom
and free surface are also contributing to complexity.
There are several types of flow in channel. For example; steady and
unsteady flow, uniform flow, steady non-uniform flow and unsteady flow.
They are all govern by many factors such as; position of free water surface,
depth of flow, discharge, slope of channel bottom and slope of free surface
water.
Efficiency of any channel will affect the speed of water streaming
through it. The efficiency of a channel is govern by the channels surface
contact and surface roughness. The rougher the channel surface, the
higher the friction lowering the channel efficiency. Thus, smoother surface
of channel and less contact surface of water with the channel gives higher
channel efficiency.

1.3.

Hec-Ras Software
The Hydrologic Engineering Centers River Analysis System (HEC-RAS)
is an advance computer software developed by U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers (USACE). With this advance software, users are able to execute
variety amount of flow. The software comes with 64-bit and 32-bit version
and it is compatible with Windows XP and above. The objective of this
report was to conduct channel modelling and channel designing for
Babagon River using advance HEC-RAS software.

2.0.

Methodology
2.1.

EQUIPMENTS
Equipment used in conducting this research are as follows:
1. Surveying Staff.
2. Measuring Tape.
3. Current meter.

2.2.

PROCEDURES TO OBTAIN CROSS SECTIONS DATA OF RIVER

In order to acquire the cross section information of the river; the
speed, depth and width of the river were measured. Four cross section
information were taken from upstream to downstream. The procedures are
as follows;
i)

Measurements of the stream was taken using the current meter and
the rivers velocity was computed by taking an average of three value
of velocities.

ii) First cross-section area was selected and its cross section was
measured by stretching measuring tape across from the left of
riverbank to the right of river bank.
iii) The depth of the river were taken every 3m interval across the river for
every cross-section using a surveying staff.
iv) For next cross section, distance of five meters were measured from the
previous cross section and the depths were taken (Steps ii. and iii.).
v) Another 3 cross section of river were taken and step iv. was repeated.

2.3.

RIVER MODELLING
Data obtained from site visit was then computed and model of the
river using the HEC-RAS software was created. The procedures are as
follows;
i)

The software was opened and new project file was created. This file
was then saved in new folder named River Modelling in desktop.

ii) The unit system was set to System International (Metric system).
iii) In the main window, under edit menu bar, Geometric data was
keyed in and river reach was drawn and all four cross sections
obtained from the site visit were keyed in. The Mannings coefficient
was set to be 0.03 for river bed that has a coarse-grained smooth
channel.
iv) Back main window, flow rates of a steady flow data was keyed in under
edit, Steady Flow Data
v) In the same steady flow data window, under boundary reach button
downstream and upstream was keyed in as critical depth.
vi) Back to the main window, steady flow simulator was performed by
clicking Perform a steady flow simulation. The button looked like a
person surfing on surface of water and positioned number 9 from the
most left button.
vii) Finally, the result of the computation was obtained by clicking River
cross section and View 3D river cross section plot.

2.4.

RIVER CHANNELLING DESIGN

Once the river modelling was computed, a design of a river
channelling is then computed using the HEC-RAS software. The
procedures are as follows;

i)

The software was opened and new project file was created. This file was
then saved in new folder named River Modelling in desktop.

ii) The unit system was set to System International (Metric system).
iii) In the main window, under edit menu bar, Geometric data was keyed in
and river reach was drawn and all four same cross sections (1.5m deep,
3m wide) were keyed in. The Mannings coefficient was set to be 0.03 for
river bed that has a coarse-grained smooth channel.
iv) Back main window, flow rates of a steady flow data was keyed in under
edit, Steady Flow Data
v) In the same steady flow data window, under boundary reach button
downstream and upstream was keyed in as critical depth.
vi) Back to the main window, steady flow simulator was performed by clicking
Perform a steady flow simulation. The button looked like a person surfing
on surface of water and positioned number 9 from the most left button.
vii) Finally, the result of the computation was obtained by clicking River cross
section and View 3D river cross section plot.

3.0.

DATA AND RESULTS

3.1.

RIVER CROSS SECTIONS DATA

Three velocities obtained from current meter = 0.9m/s, 1.2m/s, 1.4m/s

Velocity, V =

(0.9 + 1.2 + 1.4)

3

= 1.166 m/s 1m/s

Cross-sections
1

28.570

29.600

Width(m)
26.720

27.330

Depth at 3m intervals(m)
0.150

0.050

0.400

0.110

0.260

0.120

0.240

0.300

0.390

0.270

0.420

0.310

0.690

0.320

0.580

0.470

0.760

0.590

0.760

0.530

1.500

0.800

1.040

0.830

1.220

1.000

1.200

1.020

1.480

1.290

1.380

1.210

1.390

1.380

1.300

1.500

0.580

1.160

0.50

1.310

0.400

0.390

Cross-section Area, A(m2)

22.90

19.430

23.0

22.90

Flow Rate, Q=AV(m3/s)

22.90

19.430

23.090

22.90

3.2.

RIVER MODELLING

Figure 3.1. First Cross section of Natural River.

Figure 3.2. Cross section of Natural River 5m from first cross section.

Figure 3.3. Cross section of Natural River 10m from first cross section.

Figure 3.4. Cross section of Natural River 15m from first cross section.

Figure 3.5. River profile from four cross section.

3.3.

RIVER CHANNELLING DESIGN

Figure 3.6. First Cross section of Concrete Channel.

Figure 3.7. Cross section of Concrete Channel 5m from first cross section.

Figure 3.8. Cross section of Concrete Channel 10m from first cross section.

10

Figure 3.9. Cross section of Concrete Channel 15m from first cross section.

Figure 3.10. Concrete Channel profile from 4 cross section.

11

4.0.

DISCUSSION
During site visit, it was observed that the right bank of the river is going
through erosion while the left bank has a decreasing slope. It was also observed
that the river is deeper toward right side of the bank compared to the left side of
bank. The river bed was full of smooth and slippery stone. Precautions had to be
taken while taking measurement. The staff was carefully placed during recording
of depth so that the staff reach actual bed of river.
By using data of the river obtained from site visit, the modelling of the
Babagon River was computed using the advance HEC-RAS software to obtain its
profile. After profile of the river was obtained, channel design was conducted. A
channel was designed in such way that the new and improved channel would be
efficient and can sustain excess water surfacing during rainy season. The new and
improved Babagon channel is 1.5m deep and 30m wide. The width of this new
channel is 101.35% wider than the natural river while its area is 181.81 % larger
than the natural river which means it can transport surface water more efficiently.
By increasing the channels area, larger volume of water can be sustain by the
channel. This large area produce larger contact surface between water and the
channel, thus increasing friction. To overcome this, smooth concrete in which
lowers the Mannings value is used to build the channel and decrease the friction.
By using rectangular shape as channel design, smaller top width can be achieved.
This cross section can benefit villagers of Kampung Babagon as its small top width
saves a lot of land usage.

5.0.

CONCLUSION
To put it briefly, through the conduction of this assignment, data in which
defines the characteristics of the Babagon River was able to be determined. This
data was then put to use to compose the cross-sections of the river using the
HEC-RAS software thus providing an overview of the rivers shape. Similarly, this
data was also used to compute a channelling design for river upgrading purposes
based on the model constructed. In short, all objectives of this assignment was
accomplished.
12