Minimum Cost Design of Lined Canal Sections

Though the minimum area section isgenerally adopted for lined canals, it is not the bestsection as it does not involve lining cost, and thecost of earthwork which varies with the excavationdepth. On account of complexities of analysis, theminimum cost design of lined canal sections has notbeen attempted as yet. In this investigation, explicitequations and section shape coefficients for thedesign variables of minimum cost lined canal sectionsfor triangular, rectangular, trapezoidal, and circularshapes have been obtained by applying the nonlinearoptimization technique. Application of the proposeddesign equations along with the tabulated sectionshape coefficients results directly in the optimaldimensions of a lined canal without going through theconventional trial and error method of canal design.The optimal cost equation along with the correspondingsection shape coefficients is useful during theplanning of a canal project. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2000