CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
4
proposed by him and to end the controversy which had arisen over the
method of regulation (Ivicsics 1980). In his tests the river banks were
fixed, and sand was spread over the bottom (Hudson, et al. 1979).
Osborn Reynolds, in 1885, conducted movable-bed model tests of the
River Mersey with sand as the bed material. His model was at a very small
scale with the vertical scale being 33 times as large as the horizontal scale.
He used natural-sized bed material during his tests (Hudson, et al. 1979).
In 1887, Reynolds expressed optimistically that he had developed the
concepts which led him to the conclusion that with
.proper circumspection it is indeed possible io build river models in which the development of the bed will be actually similar
to that taking place in the corresponding section of the prototype
river. (Ivicsics 1980).
Reynolds’ work was continued by Vernon Harcourt who used sand and
lighter-weight bed materials such as charcoal and pumice (Hudson, et al.
1979). Harcourt expressed the following thoughts about movable-bed modeling:
If I can succeed in demonstrating with the model that the originally existing conditions can be reproduced typically; and if
moreover, by placing regulating works in the model, the same
changes can be reproduced that were brought about by the training works actually built, then I am sure that I can take the
third most important step, namely, of investigating, with every
promise of success, the probable effect of the projects that have
been proposed. (Hudson, et al. 1979).
This principle of movable-bed model verification has since been proven very
reliable, however, no rigorous proof exists (Hudson, et al. 1979).
The first hydraulic laboratory in the United States was founded in 1887
at Lehigh University by Mansfield Merrimen; and the first hydraulic laboratory designed for experimental work using movable-bed models began
operating in 1898 in Dresden, Germany, under the direction of Hubert Engels (Hudson, et al. 1979).
At the turn of the century the need to solve an increasing number of river
regulation problems led to increased use of small-scale hydraulic modeling.
Several dimensionless, invariant numbers (e.g., Froude number, Reynolds
number) had been discovered based on physical arguments associated with
Newtonian physics, and the general requirement was that these numbers
must be kept the same between model and prototype. A more formal
approach to determination of invariant parameters came early in the 20th
4
proposed by him and to end the controversy which had arisen over the
method of regulation (Ivicsics 1980). In his tests the river banks were
fixed, and sand was spread over the bottom (Hudson, et al. 1979).
Osborn Reynolds, in 1885, conducted movable-bed model tests of the
River Mersey with sand as the bed material. His model was at a very small
scale with the vertical scale being 33 times as large as the horizontal scale.
He used natural-sized bed material during his tests (Hudson, et al. 1979).
In 1887, Reynolds expressed optimistically that he had developed the
concepts which led him to the conclusion that with
.proper circumspection it is indeed possible io build river models in which the development of the bed will be actually similar
to that taking place in the corresponding section of the prototype
river. (Ivicsics 1980).
Reynolds’ work was continued by Vernon Harcourt who used sand and
lighter-weight bed materials such as charcoal and pumice (Hudson, et al.
1979). Harcourt expressed the following thoughts about movable-bed modeling:
If I can succeed in demonstrating with the model that the originally existing conditions can be reproduced typically; and if
moreover, by placing regulating works in the model, the same
changes can be reproduced that were brought about by the training works actually built, then I am sure that I can take the
third most important step, namely, of investigating, with every
promise of success, the probable effect of the projects that have
been proposed. (Hudson, et al. 1979).
This principle of movable-bed model verification has since been proven very
reliable, however, no rigorous proof exists (Hudson, et al. 1979).
The first hydraulic laboratory in the United States was founded in 1887
at Lehigh University by Mansfield Merrimen; and the first hydraulic laboratory designed for experimental work using movable-bed models began
operating in 1898 in Dresden, Germany, under the direction of Hubert Engels (Hudson, et al. 1979).
At the turn of the century the need to solve an increasing number of river
regulation problems led to increased use of small-scale hydraulic modeling.
Several dimensionless, invariant numbers (e.g., Froude number, Reynolds
number) had been discovered based on physical arguments associated with
Newtonian physics, and the general requirement was that these numbers
must be kept the same between model and prototype. A more formal
approach to determination of invariant parameters came early in the 20th