1‐D Dam‐Break Flood‐Wave Propagation on Dry Bed

The complete hydrodynamic equations of the shallow‐water theory in one dimension are employed to compute the flood wave resulting from the total and instantaneous collapse of a dam in a broad rectangular channel. The MacCormack numerical scheme is employed to solve the system of flow equations in a conservation‐law form. The actual upstream and downstream boundary conditions of the flow field, i.e., a depth of flow equal to zero at these boundaries and beyond, are used for the solution of the flow equations. The results obtained are compared with computational and experimental data obtained by other investigators. The broad rectangular channel was employed for the purpose of comparing results. The method can easily be applied to channels of arbitrary cross‐sectional shapes, as well as to almost any other unsteady open‐channel flow problem by incorporating the appropriate initial and boundary conditions.