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This webinar was co-sponsored by ASCE's Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI) and ASCE Continuing Education

Instructor:  David T. Williams, P.E., PH, CFM, BC.WRE, F.ASCE, CPESC   

Course Length: 3 Hours

Purpose and Background

How many of you get confused when hydraulic engineers use fancy terms such as unsteady flow, allowable shear stress, hydraulic radius, Manning's “n” or 100-year flood? If you are a professional who needs to work with hydraulic engineers or read their reports as an input to your work, it is essential that you fully understand “where they are coming from.” This webinar will enable you to “talk the talk” and to understand the basis of the analyses that goes into hydraulic studies.

Discussion Topics

  • What is hydraulics?
  • Characteristics of flow and flow terms
  • Manning's equation and its use
  • Shear stress and applications
  • Hydraulic calculation methods

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:
  • Discover the fundamentals of hydraulics
  • Identify hydraulic terms and how they are used in river and erosion design
  • How hydraulic engineers compute water surface elevations, water velocities, and shear stress
  • Recognize how hydraulics is used for streambank protection and stream restoration
  • Explore how hydraulic structures are designed
  • Observe the tools that hydraulic engineers use

Webinar Benefits

  • Understand the thought processes of hydraulic engineers
  • Comprehend how flow depth and velocity is determined
  • Learn how hydraulics is used for bank protection and stream restoration projects
  • Understand commonly used terms in hydraulics
  • Understand the relationship between hydrology and hydraulics
  • Learn about the many applications of hydraulics
  • Be educated on how hydraulic engineers design channels

Assessment of Learning Outcomes

Students' achievement of the learning outcomes will be assessed via a short post-assessment (true-false, multiple choice and fill in the blank questions).

Webinar Outline

Part 1

  • What is hydraulics?
  • Things that we look for in hydraulics
  • Characteristics of flow
  • Hydraulic calculation methods
  • What is important in hydraulics?
  • Channel and floodplain definitions
  • Flow terms
  • Manning's equation
  • Shear stress and applications
  • Meanders

Part 2

  • Shear stress at bends
  • Bridge hydraulics and scour
  • Culverts
  • Weirs
  • Channel stability
  • Grade control

How to Earn your CEUs/PDHs and Receive Your Certificate of Completion

To receive your certificate of completion, you will need to complete a short on-line post-test and receive a passing score of 70% or higher within 1 year of purchasing the course.

How do I convert CEUs to PDHs?

1.0 CEU = 10 PDHs [Example: 0.1 CEU = 1 PDH]