On April 17, 1973, one of the largest recorded floods on the Mississippi River r

Question

On April 17, 1973, one of the largest recorded floods on the Mississippi River reached its peak discharge at Baton Rouge, LA. Although the bed material of the lower Mississippi is fairly uniform fine to very fine sand, the shear stress was just high enough to move 10 mm gravel at the peak velocity of 2.4 m/s. The width to depth ratio was 47. Use a value of *c = 0.044 for the 10 mm gravel to determine the specific stream power under these conditions. Please express your answer in Watts per square meter.

Explanation / Answer

Given: Due to the Shear Stress, the displacement = 10mm

The velocity at its peak = 2.4m/s

Width to Depth ratio = 47

Solution:

We know, the density of water is 1000 Kg/m3. By multiplying the density with Acceleration due to gravity,

we get = (1000X9.81)= 9810 Kg/m2/s2

Given the discharge as 10mm, hence this would be = (9810X0.01)= 981 Kgm/s3

Given the ratio of width to depth ratio is 47

Hence the slope is 3m

Therefore, the Stream Power will be= ( 981X3) =2943 watts

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