User:MGava01/Stream power

Stream Power
Water flowing in creek looped As water flows through the river, it drags along the bottom and sides exerting a force on them that this force is called stream power and can cause rocks to move or material from the banks to dislodge resulting in erosion.
Common symbols	Ω, ω
SI unit	Watts
In SI base units	kg m2 s−3
Derivations from other quantities	Ω=ρgQS
Dimension	M L2 T−3

Stream power originally derived by R. A. Bagnold in the 1960s is the amount of energy the water in the stream is exerting on the sides and bottom of the river. Stream power is the result of multiplying the density of the water, the acceleration of the water due to gravity, the volume of water flowing through the river, and the slope of that water. Stream power is a valuable measurement for hydrologists and geomorphologist tackling sediment transport issues as well as by civil engineers using it in the planning and construction of roads, bridges, and culverts.

History

Although many authors had suggested the use of power formulas in sediment transport in the decades preceding Bagnold's work, and in fact Bagnold himself suggested it a decade before putting it into practice in one of his other works. It wasn't until 1966 that R. A. Bagnold tested this theory experimentally to validate whether it would indeed work or not. This was successful and since then, many variations and applications of stream power have surfaced. The lack of fixed guidelines on how to define stream power in this early stage lead to many authors publishing work under the name stream power while not always quantifying the same thing, this lead to partially failed efforts to establish naming conventions for the various forms of the formula by Rhoads two decades later in 1986. Today stream power is still used and new ways of applying it are still being discovered and researched, with a large integration into modern numerical models utilizing computer simulations.

Derivation

Explanation of Derivation

It can be derived by the fact that if the water is not accelerating and the river cross-section stays constant (generally good assumptions for an averaged reach of a stream over a modest distance), all of the potential energy lost as the water flows downstream must be used up in friction or work against the bed: none can be added to kinetic energy. Therefore, the potential energy drop is equal to the work done to the bed and banks, which is the stream power.

Mathematical Derivation

Stream power (Ω) is the loss of potential energy (PE) to the bank and bed over time (t) which can be described using the following formula:

$\Omega ={\frac {\Delta PE}{\Delta t}}=mg{\frac {\Delta z}{\Delta t}}$

where m is the mass of the water, g is acceleration due to gravity, and Δz is the change in elevation.

where water mass and gravitational acceleration are constant. We can use the channel slope and the stream velocity as a stand-in for ${\Delta z}/{\Delta t}$: the water will lose elevation at a rate given by the downward component of velocity $u_{z}$. For a channel slope (as measured from the horizontal) of $\alpha$:

${\frac {\Delta z}{\Delta t}}=u_{z}=u\sin(\alpha )\approx uS$

where $u$ is the downstream flow velocity. It is noted that for small angles, $\sin(\alpha )\approx \tan(\alpha )=S$. Rewriting the first equation, we now have:

${\frac {\Delta PE}{\Delta t}}=mguS$

Remembering that power is energy per time and using the equivalence between work against the bed and loss in potential energy, we can write:

$\Omega ={\frac {\Delta PE}{\Delta t}}$

Finally, we know that mass is equal to density times volume. From this, we can rewrite the mass on the right hand side:

$m=\rho Lbh$

where $L$ is the channel length, $b$ is the channel width (breadth), and $h$ is the channel depth (height). We use the definition of discharge:

$Q=ubh$

where $A$ is the cross-sectional area, which can often be reasonably approximated as a rectangle with the characteristic width and depth. This absorbs velocity, width, and depth. We define stream power per unit channel length, so that term goes to 1:

$\Omega =\rho gQ{\cancelto {1}{L}}S$

Finally the derivation is complete resulting in the formula:

$\Omega =\rho gQS$

Various Forms

(Total) Stream power

Stream power is the rate of energy dissipation against the bed and banks of a river or stream per unit downstream length. It is given by the equation:

$\Omega =\rho gQS$

where Ω is the stream power, ρ is the density of water (1000 kg/m³), g is acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m/s²), Q is discharge (m³/s), and S is the channel slope.

Total Stream Power

Total stream power often refers simply to stream power, but some authors use it as the rate of energy dissipation against the bed and banks of a river or stream per entire stream length. It is given by the equation:

$Total\ stream\ power=\Omega \ L$

where Ω is the stream power, per unit downstream length and L is the length of the stream.

Unit (or Specific) Stream power

Unit stream power is stream power per unit channel width, and is given by the equation:

$\omega ={\frac {\rho gQS}{b}}$

where ω is the unit stream power, and b is the width of the channel.

Critical Unit Stream Power

Critical unit stream power is the amount of stream power needed to displace a grain of a specific size, it is given by the equation:

$\omega _{0}=\tau _{0}\nu _{0}$

where τ₀ is the critical shear stress of the grain size that will be moved while v₀ is the critical mobilization speed.

Relationships to other variables

Size of displaced sediment

Critical stream power can be used to determine the stream competency of a river, which is a measure to determine the largest grain size that will be moved by a river. In river's with large sediment the relationship between critical unit stream power and sediment diameter displaced can be reduce to:

$\omega _{0}=0.030D_{i}^{1.69}$

While in intermediate-sized rivers the relationship was found to follow:

$\omega _{0}=0.130D_{i}^{1.438}$

Shear stress

Shear stress is another variable used in erosion and sediment transport models representing the force applied on a surface by a perpendicular force, and can be calculated using the following formula

$\tau =hS\rho g$

Where τ is the shear stress, S is the slope of the water, ρ is the density of water (1000 kg/m³), g is acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m/s²).

Shear stress can be used to compute the unit stream power using the formula

$\omega =\tau \ V$

Where V is the velocity of the water in the stream.

Applications

Predicting flood plain formation

By plotting stream power along the length of a river coarse as a second-order exponential curve, you are able to identify areas where flood plains may form and why they will form there.

Sensitivity to erosion

Stream power has also been used as a criteria to determine whether a river is in a state of reshaping itself or whether it is stable. A value of unit stream power between 30 to 35 W m^-2 in which this transition occurs has been found by multiple studies. Another technique gaining popularity is using a gradient of stream power by comparing the unit stream power upstream to the local unit stream power ($\Delta \omega =\omega _{local}-\omega _{upstream}$) to identify patterns such as sudden jumps or drops in stream power, these features can help identify locations where the local terrain controls the flow or widens out as well as areas prone to erosion.

Bridge and culvert design

Stream power can be used as an indicator of potential damages to bridges as a result of large rain events and how strong bridges should be designed in order to avoid damage during these events. Stream power can also be used to guide culvert and bridge design in order to maintain healthy stream morphology in which fish are able to continuing trasversing the water course and no erosion processes are inititated.

See Also

• Hydrology
• Geomorphology
• Erosion
• Sediment transport
• Shear stress
• Hydrogeomorphology
• Deposition (geology)
• Channel slope