A technical reference guide and instruction text for the estimation of flood and drainage water levels in rivers, waterways and drainage channels. It is written as a user's manual for the openly available innovative Conveyance and Afflux Estimation System (CES-AES) software, with which water levels, flows and velocities in channels can be calculated. The impact of factors influencing these levels and the sensitivity of channels to extreme levels can also be assessed. Approaches and solutions are focused on addressing environmental, flood risk and land drainage objectives. Practical Channel Hydraulics is the first reference guide that focuses in detail on estimating roughness, conveyance and afflux in fluvial hydraulics. With its universal approach and the application of metric units, both book and software serve an international audience of consultants and engineers dealing with river modelling, flood risk assessment, maintenance of watercourses and the design of drainage systems. Suited as course material for training graduate Master's students in civil and environmental engineering or geomorphology who focus on river and flood engineering, as well as for professional training in flood risk management issues, open channel flow hydraulics and modelling.


The CES-AES software development followed recommendations by practitioners and academics in the UK Network on Conveyance in River Flood Plain Systems, following the Autumn 2000 floods, that operating authorities should make better use of recent improved knowledge on conveyance and related flood (or drainage) level estimation. This led to a Targeted Programme of Research aimed at improving conveyance estimation and subsequent integration with other research on afflux at bridges and culverts at high flows. The CES-AES software tool aims to improve and assist with the estimation of:












hydraulic roughness
water levels (and corresponding channel and structure conveyance)
flow (given slope); section-average and spatial velocities
backwater profiles upstream of a known flow-head control e.g. weir (steady)
afflux upstream of bridges and culverts
uncertainty in water level












The CES-AES software and tutorial are openly available at www.river-conveyance.net (see also Downloads & Updates tab).