River Engineering for Highway Encroachments – Part One - a PDH Online Course for Engineers, Architects and Surveyors

River Engineering for Highway Encroachments – Part One

Course Outline

This 15 hour course River Engineering for Highway Encroachments - Part One, will cover River classification, Open channel flow, fundamentals of alluvial channel flow, sediment transport, river morphology, and river stabilization. Several examples of highway encroachments and their solutions will be shown.

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student would have learned the following:

How to determine floodplain elevations;
How to determine bankfill discharge;
Geometry of bridge crossings;
Dynamics of natural rivers and their tributaries;
Effects of highway construction on river systems;
Variables affecting river behavior;
Future technical trends;
Open channel flow calculations;
Fundamentals of alluvial channel flow;
Sediment transport;
River morphology;
River stabilization;
Bank protection;
Scour at bridges;
Data sources;
Examples of design for highways in the river environment;
Conservation of mass equation;
Conservation of energy;
Conservation of linear momentum;
Shear stress calculations;
Velocity equations;
Energy coefficients;
Calculation of gravity waves;
Hydraulic jump calculations;
Roll wave calculations;
Flow through transition characteristics;
Specific energy diagrams;
Flow in bends;
Subcritical flow in bends;
Measuring water discharge with stream gaging;
Stage-discharge relation;
Types of flow in bridge openings;
Sediment properties and measurements;
Bed configurations in sandbed channels;
Size gradation in alluvial channels;
Bed material concentration;
Shields diagram;
Equations for flow and sediment variables;
Suspended sediment hydrograph;
How to calculate total sediment discharge;
Angle of repose in soils;
Sources of sediment transport;
Modes of sediment transport;
Einstein’s method of computing bed sediment discharge;
How to calculate total bed discharge;
How to define boulders;
Effects of construction at bridges;
Types of open channel flow;
How to calculate the Froude number;
How to determine the specific head;
How to define free bends;
How to calculate flow using Bernoulli’s equation;
Types of flow encountered in bridge waterway design;
How to calculate flowrate (Q) given several channel variables;
How to determine the discharge coefficient;
How to determine the Manning’s “n” coefficient;
How the Froude number affects flow;
Relation between Froude number and hydraulic jumps;
Types of bends in natural river channels; and
How to calculate the fluid drag force.

Intended Audience

This course is intended for Transportation engineers, roadway designers, contractors, municipal engineers, project managers, Hydrologist, and any persons working in the civil engineering field or anyone with an interest in highways in the river environment.

Benefit to Attendees

This course will cover design of highways in the river environment.

Course Introduction

In order to provide the most efficient roadway alignment for vehicle volumes, roadway alignments often encroach upon rivers. When this occurs the hydraulics and characteristics of the river have to be analyzed in order to protect properties upstream and downstream of the encroachment. Erosion & sedimentation, flooding and river morphology should be considered when highways encroach upon rivers. Several measures will be introduced in this course to mitigate problems encountered for highway in the river environment.

Course Content

This course River Engineering for Highway Encroachments - Part One, will cover river classification, open channel flow, fundamentals of alluvial channel flow, sediment transport, river morphology, and river stabilization. Several examples of highway encroachments and their solutions will be shown.

Note: The student should study Section 1 through Section 6 of the following FHWA document in order to prepare for the quiz. The remaining text of the document is covered in River Engineering for Highway Encroachments Part two (2).

River Engineering for Highway Encroachments

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Course Summary

The information presented in this course will provide the reader with the knowledge that will aid in the design of highways in the river environment.

Using good engineering judgment is always paramount in any situation. Utilizing good judgment and the knowledge gained in this course will aid the reader with the knowledge to be a success when designing highways in the river environment.

Related Links

For additional technical information related to this subject, please visit the following websites:

United States Department of Transportation
http://www.dot.gov/
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
http://www.faa.gov/
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.