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![]() General Principles of Erosion Protection 
sharp bend; or by (b) placing trenchfill or windrow revetment landward of the 
protruding bankline points, and allowing the stream to erode the irregularities 
away. This approach offers simple design and construction, since the operation 
is removed from the active channel. However, the bank retreat which occurs 
before the channel reaches the stabilization structure may not be greeted 
enthusiastically by property owners. Conversely, if erosion is slower than 
anticipated, a navigation project with a schedule to meet may require costly 
dredging of the uneroded foreshore. 
(3) In a straight reach with an unstable planform, or on a braided stream, it may be 
desirable to increase the sinuosity of the main channel in order to stabilize the 
location of scour pools and bars. This can also provide better channel alignment 
and a deeper channel for navigation. However, an accurate assessment of 
channel migration tendencies, the stable range of values for pool and bar spacing, 
and the ratio of radius to width, is especially critical in this situation. Such a 
realignment often involves both armor revetments and indirect protection in 
combination, depending upon the bank and channel topography along the 
proposed realigned bankline. 
6.2 HYDRAULICS 
Having used applied fluvial geomorphology to decide on the location of bank 
protection work, the next step is to apply a fluvial hydraulics analysis to decide how deep, 
how high, and how strong to make the work. The concepts of fluvial hydraulics presented 
in Chapters 2 and 3 apply to the following factors: 
Design discharge; 
Tractive force and permissible velocity; 
Secondary currents; 
Variations in river stage; 
Top elevation of protection; 
Wave, vessel, and ice forces; and 
Prediction of toe scour. 
6.2.1 DESIGN DISCHARGE 
It is important to recognize the distinction between design discharge and dominant 
discharge. Design discharge usually refers to an extreme event, and is often used in 
connection with flood control channel analyses. A tractive force or velocity associated with 
the design discharge is also commonly used to compute stone size for riprap armor (see 
6.2.2), and a similar approach can be used to design many commercially available armor 
materials. The design discharge can be defined quite precisely using hydrologic analyses. 
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