Open Channel Hydraulics

Open Channel Hydraulics covers flow analysis and design for natural and artificial channels, including uniform flow, weirs, flumes, backwater profiles, flood routing, hydraulic jumps, and sediment transport.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Chin Wu3.6/5

Summary

1 / 3

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2020: 3.83 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Fall 2023: 3.75 GPA, 90.0% A/AB (n=10 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.75 GPA, 91.7% A/AB (n=12 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

  • Explain the characteristics of open channel flows.

  • Describe free surface flow profile and quantify mass, energy, and momentum of open channel flows.

  • Apply fundamental principles governing open channel hydraulics to the design of engineering or nature-based systems.

  • Explain a solution to an engineering problem that relies on open channel hydraulic principles.

  • Synthesize scientific literature related to open channel flows.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

CIV ENGR 310, graduate/professional standing, or member of Engineering Guest Students

    • CIVENGR 310
    • graduate/professional standing
    • member of Engineering Guest Students
    take one
CIVENGR 411

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Any of
    • CIVENGR 310
    • graduate/professional standing
    • member of Engineering Guest Students

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.56/5 from 25 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

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Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 250

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records

Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2020: 3.83 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Fall 2023: 3.75 GPA, 90.0% A/AB (n=10 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.75 GPA, 91.7% A/AB (n=12 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Flow analysis in natural and artificial open channels.
  • Uniform flow and flow measuring devices such as weirs and flumes.
  • Gradually varied flow, backwater profiles, and flood routing.
  • Rapidly varied flow, hydraulic jumps, and spillways.
  • Channel design, geometric considerations, scour, stabilization, and sediment transport.

Skills

  • Analyze flow characteristics in natural and artificial open channels.
  • Design channels considering uniform flow, weirs, flumes, backwater profiles, and flood routing.
  • Address channel design problems involving geometric considerations, scour, stabilization, and sediment transport.

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Fall 2025

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Selected offering source records
CIVENGR 411 · Spring 2027

Open Channel Hydraulics

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records
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    "course_id": "CIVENGR 411",
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    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "003356",
    "source_subject_id": "240",
    "title": "Open Channel Hydraulics",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Occasionally"
  }
]
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Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Model & dataset provenance
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