Cross-Sectional River Shapes: A Variational Discharge-Resistance Formulation

摘要

Cross-sectional river shapes were obtained from a variational principle:211u001eminimizing the bed friction for a given discharge and a given maximum lateral bed 211u001eslope (Angle of repose). The optimal shape is found to be independent of both the 211u001eexponent in the friction law adopted and the value of the discharge, but it does 211u001edepend on the angle of repose. The optimal profile is a single stream; for 211u001ebraided rivers the solution is suboptimal.