A Study on the Estimation of Discharge in Unsteady Condition by Using the Entropy Concept

A discharge measurement is difficult in flood season which is especially important in the water resources field and the continuous discharge measurement for all rivers is impossible on the present system. So, the stage-discharge curve has been used for a long time to produce discharge data of rivers. However, there has been problems from a reliability angle due to the fact that this method uses only stage-discharge relationship, although the stage-discharge curve has the convenience. Therefore, a new mean velocity equation was derived by using Chiu`s 2D velocity formula of the entropy concept in this paper. The derived equation reflected hydraulic characteristics such as the depth, gravity acceleration, hydraulic radius, energy slope, kinematic coefficient of viscosity, etc. and estimated also a maximum velocity. In addition, this method verified the relationship between a mean and maximum velocity and estimates an equilibrium state well presenting properties of a river cross section as the results. The mean velocity was estimated by using the equilibrium state , and then the discharge was estimated. To prove this equation to be accurate, the comparison between the measured and estimated discharge is conducted by using the measured laboratory data in the unsteady condition flow showing loop state and the results are consistent. If this study is constantly carried out by using various laboratory and river data, this method will be widely utilized in water resources field.