Overland flow hydrodynamic characteristics in rough beds at low Reynolds numbers

This paper considers overland flow resistance at low Reynolds numbers through analysis of experimental runs carried out using water only and water/glycerol mixtures. We first examined the power relationship between the Darcy–Weisbach friction factor f and the Reynolds number Re to obtain the values of the K coefficient and b exponent. These results confirmed the applicability of the values of b suggested in literature, while K required a specific calibration for laminar open-channel flows. The analysis revealed that transition from a laminar to turbulent flow regime for water only flows occurred at a threshold value of Re equal to 500 as described historically. The estimate of f by the powe…