SAM Hydraulic Design
Package for Channels
Technology
SAM, a hydraulic design package with an
integrated system of programs, provides
hydraulic, sediment transport, and sediment
yield calculations for the design of stable
channels. Using SAM, civil engineers,
geologists, scientists and others can rapidly
calculate channel size in both fixed and
mobile streams. SAM meets engineers' need
for a qualitative, easy-to-use methodology for
making analyses associated with the
preliminary design, of flood-control channels
and stream restoration projects. The package
is especially helpful in preliminary screening
of alternatives where funds for more extensive investigations are not available.
The SAM package was developed through the Flood Damage Reduction Research
Program and is designed to run on PC computers. The software is currently available in
Windows, and is sometimes called SAMwin. Three main modules of the program can be
used separately or in tandem for various hydraulic design situations
Problem
Before the existence of SAM, considerable time was spent on computations for hydraulic
design calculations, and there was a lack of consistency in methodology. Also it was
difficult to switch from hydraulic calculations to bed material sediment transport rating
curves to sediment yield. Another problem involved the difficulty in applying a variety of
sediment transport functions. There are 20 such functions in SAM. In the past, the design
of stable channels focused on the erosion process, which is only one of five fundamental
processes in sedimentation, erosion, entrainment, transportation, deposition, and
compaction. SAM provides the computational capability to include all five processes.
Expected Cost
SAM software and support is free to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Districts, Divisions,
To Implement
Laboratories, and Centers. Ayres Associates, Fort Collins, CO, developed a Windows-
based users interface for the SAM package through a Cooperative Research and
Development Agreement (CRDA) with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and
Development Center (ERDC). As part of the agreement, Ayers has the right to market the
SAM package to all users outside the Corps of Engineers.
Benefits/Savings
SAM can be used to rapidly determine whether there is channel instability on a project,
and then to determine the magnitude of that instability. It provides an inexpensive way to
make a reliable determination of the extent of investigation a project will require. SAM
can also be used to evaluate the relative effects on channel stability, in terms of reducing
aggradation and/or degradation, of various project proposals. SAM can save project
resources because of its ease of use and low input data requirements.
U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center
June 2002
www.erdc.usace.army.mil
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