An analytical solution for flow estimation of a meandering compound channel

An analytical model is proposed to determine the discharge capacity in a meandering compound channel. The channel cross-section is divided into four sub-sections, such as the lower main channel, the floodplain within the meander belt and the two outer floodplains. Momentum transfer in-between these four subsections is taken into consideration in the analytical model. The model basically determines the force balance of each individual subsection to predict its mean velocity and thereby the sub-sectional discharge. The paper suggests a non-dimensional parameter, alpha(T), which is the momentum transfer coefficient, that is determined to be unique for each individual channel. The paper deals with the calibration of this parameter for both large-scale and small-scale data sets.