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Hydraulics in Civil and Environmental

Engineering

Book January 2013

DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9429(2000)126:9(724)

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 Book Review

HYDRAULICS IN CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

By Andrew Chadwick and John Morfett

E & FN Spon, New York; 1998; 628 pages; 3rd Ed.; $38.00 part of the books two parts. An enhancement to any subse-
quent edition of the book would be to provide additional prob-
lems and solutions for the books entire range of material. The
This book presents descriptions and analyses of, as well as provision of problems covering the material in the second part
designs for, liquid (principally water) characteristics and be- of the book is clearly important to achieve the authors aim of
havior relevant to civil and environmental engineers. It is in helping the reader gain confidence in applying the presented
its third edition, the previous editions appearing in 1986 (of material to typical engineering problems. With regard to this
lesser computational modeling and environmental focuses) and aim, the number of worked examples in the book may appear
1993. The third edition contains much of the material, revised to be somewhat limited to readers not possessing the accom-
and updated, from the previous editions, along with an addi- panying solutions manual.
tional new chapter on computational hydraulics, this chapter In essence, the book is particularly noteworthy for providing
absorbing and extending sections of chapters in previous edi- a comprehensive coverage of the breadth of fields encom-
tions. The chapters on wave theory and coastal engineering in passed by civil engineering hydraulics, including an introduc-
previous editions have, in particular, been updated for the pres- tion to the principles of environmentally sound engineering
ent edition. practice. The authors are to be highly commended for this
Introductory notes, discussing the books topics, the nature work. It is refreshing to find in one book the range of hydrau-
of fluids, and units of analysis as well as providing a short lics applications that are presented in this book, including, for
history of hydraulics, nicely preface the book. An overview of example, the more traditional topics, along with sediment
the foundations of present day understanding, such as given transport, flood hydrology, hydraulic structures, river engi-
in the history section, is always of value. Indeed, the authors neering, coastal engineering, and water quality modeling. The
discuss how the work of Prandtl at the beginning of the 20th breadth of material has meant that the coverage of some topics
Century effectively fused together the two disparate schools is necessarily limited, but such limitations are generally very
of thought of that timemathematical and experimental ap- well compensated for by the comprehensive references and
proaches to describing fluid flows. At the start of the 21st further reading lists provided.
century, we appear still to be of more-or-less the same mindset; Recognizing that areas of hydraulics are currently seeing
we seek similar steps forward in understanding and describing sustained and often dramatic advances, readers, however,
the basic experimentally confirmable physics of flows, and to would also benefit from, and could be inspired by, additional
realize the rapidly increasing potential of computational anal- discussions in the book of several further areas of hydraulics
yses to simulate observed behaviors of fluid-transported sedi- that are currently experiencing these advances. For example,
ments, contaminants, etc. readers could be introduced to the field of hydroinformatics,
The book comprises two principal parts: a more fundamen- what it encompasses, and its relevance to the world of the
tal first part, Principles and Basic Applications, and a more engineer. With regard to computational (river) modeling, the
applied second part, Aspects of Hydraulic Engineering. The use of fully two-dimensional or three-dimensional models
first part of the book is composed of 11 sections on hydro- could be discussed perhaps briefly, and the value and present
statics, principles of fluid flow, behavior of real fluids, flow in limitations of such models could be briefly illustrated by ex-
pipes and closed conduits, open-channel flow, pressure surges amples. Given the escalating value of the World Wide Web as
in pipelines, hydraulic machines, wave theory, sediment trans- a source of information, to students and to professionals, it is
port, flood hydrology, and dimensional analysis and physical also worth providing references to appropriate websites for
modeling. The second part comprises six sections on pipeline each section of the book.
systems, hydraulic structures, computational hydraulics, river In terms of a reference text, the material presented in the
and canal engineering, coastal engineering, and water quality book essentially fulfills the authors aims of covering the hy-
modeling. Perhaps the second part is more appropriately draulics required for an undergraduate course and providing
thought of as advanced aspects of hydraulic engineering, since good, basic material for hydraulics graduate courses and pro-
a good deal of the material in the first part, basic applications, fessional practice reference. To this reviewer, however, ground
also constitutes aspects of hydraulic engineering practicefor water is an aspect of hydraulics that should, for the sake of
example, flood routing, pressure surges in pipelines, etc.
In a sort of postscript, the book closes with a brief philo-
sophical discussion of what constitutes good hydraulic engi-
neering. This discussion provides a timely reminder to the
reader that good engineering is an art, nurtured by experience,
and not simply a clinical application of technical concepts and
principles. For example, the book briefly but usefully touches
on the complexities often attendant to such actual hydraulics-
engineering problems as the situation illustrated in Fig. 1.
There are a reasonable number of worked examples that aid
the reader in understanding and applying the presented mate-
rial. A set of problems for solution is also provided at the rear
FIG. 1. Example of Sediment Transport as Design Issue for
of the book. To aid those adopting this book for lecture
Civil and Environmental Engineers; Aided by Ongoing Riverbed
courses, a separate manual for solutions of those problems is Sediment Mining, Flow Regime along This Steep River in Taiwan
available free upon request to lecturers. A limitation of the Has Resulted in Lowering of Bed by As Much As 10 m at Bridge
problems is that they apply only to the first, more fundamental, Site

724 / JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING / SEPTEMBER 2000

completeness, be incorporated into future editions, including In summary, this is a well-compiled, well-presented book.
discussions of water characteristics and quality and well hy- Its content is comprehensive, logically developed, usefully il-
draulics and design. In terms of the water quality component lustrated, and very readable. The reader can be confident of
of the book, the student reader would also benefit greatly from the quantity and quality of the material covered in the book.
the insight provided by discussions, examples, and problems The book has stood the test of time, and its content has been
relating to simple analytical solutions to contaminant advec- continually revised to cover developing trends in hydraulics.
tion and diffusion, for both instantaneous and continuous con- Moreover, this edition of the book and the previous editions
tamination addition at a point. Additional material that could have all been extensively reviewed by eminent engineers prior
strengthen the present edition includes discussions of the de- to publication. To find such a range of hydraulics applications
termination of turbulent velocity characteristics from measured presented together as in this book is refreshing. The book is
velocity profiles, streamflow rating curves, scour analysis, and certainly well suited to cover the spectrum of hydraulics ma-
mitigation downstream of energy dissipators, reservoir design terial for civil and environmental engineering courses, and to
(including capacity, sedimentation, etc.), and hydraulic aspects cover basic material for professional practice reference. The
of design for the management of water quality (including treat- book is well priced to make it accessible to the complete range
ment plants, detention basins, wetlands, etc.). It would also be of potential readers. The authors are to be commended again
helpful for the range of local head loss coefficients for flow for this valuable compilation describing hydraulics in civil and
in pipes and closed conduits to be expanded, and for the stan- environmental engineering.
dard U.S. Bureau of Reclamation stilling basin designs to be
illustrated. In making these observations of possible additional
topics of a relatively minor nature, it is nevertheless realized Stephen Coleman
that there are realistic limitations on how much material can Department of Civil and Resource Engineering
be included in the book while keeping it of finite size and The University of Auckland
accessible to as large an audience as possible. Auckland, New Zealand

JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING / SEPTEMBER 2000 / 725

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