Prediction of the end-depth ratio and discharge in semi-circular and circular shaped channels using support vector machines

This paper presents the results of an application of a support vector machine based modelling technique to determine the end-depth ratio and discharge of a free overfall occurring over an inverted smooth semi-circular channel and a circular channel with flat bases. The data used in this study are taken from earlier studies reported in the literature. The results of the study indicate that the support vector machine technique can be used effectively for predicting the end-depth ratio and the discharge for such channels. For subcritical flow, the value of the end-depth ratio is found to be 0.704, which compares favorably to the predicted values obtained by using empirical relations derived in previous studies, while for supercritical flow, the support vector machines perform equally well and are found to work better than the empirical relationship proposed by S. Dey [Free over fall in circular channels with flat base: a method of open channel flow measurement, Flow Meas. Instrum. 13 (2002) 209–221]. The results also suggest the usefulness of support vector machine based modelling techniques in predicting the end-depth ratio and discharge for a semi-circular channel using the model created for the circular channel data, and vice versa, for supercritical flow conditions.