Study on Advanced Water Level Simulation Method for Inland Waterway Transport Based on the Extended Manning Formula

Abstract

The water level is a critical hydraulic parameter for inland ship safe navigation, as well as an important variable in inland waterway transport minoring and assistant systems. As a basic and traditional method, the one-dimensional (1D) hydrodynamic model is adapted to simulate river sections/waterway segments to obtain water levels numerically. However, the friction factor, i.e., Manning’s coefficient n, is a sensitive parameter for the traditional 1D hydrodynamic model. Its calibration or identification is not only very time-consuming but also unpractical. Due to its sensitivity to the simulation results, usually, one identified parameter cannot be adopted into other flow scenarios. It has been concluded that the unfitness of the traditional empirical quasi-steady friction formulae leads to these consequences/phenomena. Besides finding advanced parameter calibration algorithms and updating friction parameters dynamically, employing a true unsteady friction formula to replace the quasi-steady friction formula is a thorough solution to the problem. In this study, we introduced a newly proposed 1D unsteady friction formula to the momentum equation of the Saint-Venant Equations, thus a modified 1D hydrodynamic model was developed. To validate its capability in simulating water levels, the modified model was adopted into the Xia-la-xian – La-he-lian section of Daying River; and compared with the traditional model with the Manning formula. Results showed that the modified hydrodynamic model performs better in both water level and cross-sectional average velocity simulation. The research results can be used to support the construction of intelligent water level warning systems, intelligent shipping, and digital waterway transportation platforms.