Open-Channel Hydraulics

This book was originally designed as a state-of-the-art reference book for the practising professional, but the addition of homework problems for the primary chapters and a solutions manual has made it also very suitable as a textbook for courses in open-channel hydraulics in civil engineering. The homework problems were drawn from the author's many years of experience teaching in civil engineering and consultancy work. The main areas of interest in the field are covered from both theoretical and applied viewpoints and the book integrates the traditional areas of open-channel hydraulics such as specific energy, specific momentum, gradually varied flow profiles, design of channels and unsteady flow, with new developments such as stratified flow, dam break, and turbulent mixing and dispersion. Each chapter is supplemented with extensive example problems solved in great detail, and the fundamental principle of the solution of problems is emphasized, although it is noted that standard computer codes are available to solve many of the computationally complex problems that confront the modern engineer. Also available is a solutions manual (0-07-022144-8).

Richard H. French received his B.S.C.E. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from the Ohio State University and continued his graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley. While at the University of California he was the recipient of the Boris A. Bakhmeteff Research Fellowship from Columbia University in 1973-74. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of California in 1975, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering at Vanderbilt University. In 1979, he was invited to join the Faculty of Water Resources Center (subsequently the Division of Hydrologic Sciences), Desert Research Institute, a component of the Higher Education System of Nevada. Over the next 25 years he performed hydrologic and hydraulic engineering research in both Las Vegas and Reno, NV and a member of the Graduate Faculty at both University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Reno campuses. In 2004, French retired from the Desert Research Institute and was promoted to Research Professor Emeritus. In January 2005, he was appointed Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Dr. French received the American Society of Civil Engineers Arid Lands Hydraulic Engineering Award in 1991, the Desert Research Institute's Dandini Medal of Science in 1996, and the Outstanding Civil Engineering Alumni Award from the Ohio State University Civil Engineering Alumni Association in 2004. He was also a founding member of the American Society of Civil Engineers Environmental and Water Resources Institute and one of the original Diplomates of the American Academy of Water Resources. Dr. French is a registered Professional Engineer in Nevada, California, and Arizona. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the International Association of Hydraulic Engineering and Research. His previous works as an editor or author include Salinity in Watercourses and Reservoirs, Open-Channel Hydraulics (1st edition), Hydraulic Processes on Alluvial Fans, Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Hydraulics/Hydrology of Arid Lands, and chapters in several engineering handbooks.