An Analysis of Location and Orientation of Repelling Spurs in Rivers

The problem of river training is quite complex. In perhaps no other field of hydraulic engineering, the designer is so much handicapped by the lack of knowledge of tho basic factors involved. Out of the various river control measures, the most effective is by repelling or deflecting tho river, by constructing a structure transverse to the river flow and extending from the bank into tho main river; these are called repelling spars. Presently no design criterion is available to locate and orient tho spurs at the correct place. Tho only course open to tho field engineer is to refer the matter to model studies and wait for the results which are quito time consuming and costly. In this paper, perhaps for the first time, an effort has been made to collect the data of the spurs from actual field and to correlate dirnension-less parameters evolved on tho basis of theoretical and dimensional analysis to define spur’s location, orientation and geometry. The data has been divided depending on discharge, control point and number of spurs proposed. Charts and equations, evolved after statistical analysis, have been given to serve as design guides for field engineers.