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The shallow-water approximation requires the depth to be small compared with the horizontal scale of variation, small vertical accelerations and nearly hydrostatic pressure. Take cross-sectionally uniform lower-layer velocity and a sufficiently deep, effectively stationary upper layer. Under the Boussinesq approximation, $g^{\prime }=g({\rho }_1-{\rho }_0)/{\rho }_0$ is the reduced gravity. Conservation of lower-layer volume gives constant discharge $Q=bhu$.

Dividing the Bernoulli equation by $g^{\prime }$ gives the shallow-water specific energyAt fixed $Q,b$, the energy curve has its minimum at the critical depth $h_c=(Q^2/(g^{\prime }{b}^2){)}^{1/3}$, where $E_c=3h_c/2$. Above this minimum there are two depth branches: deeper subcritical flow has $F<1$, and shallower supercritical flow has $F>1$.

The two long-wave speeds relative to the bed are $u\pm \sqrt{g^{\prime }h}$. In subcritical flow one family can propagate upstream and one downstream; in supercritical flow both travel downstream for $u>0$. At hydraulic control, $u-\sqrt{g^{\prime }h}=0$, and a smooth transcritical solution must also satisfy the geometric regularity condition. The flow may remain entirely on either branch, cross smoothly through the control from subcritical to supercritical, or take the reverse smooth branch under appropriate boundary conditions. A downstream hydraulic jump can return supercritical flow to the subcritical branch while losing energy.

The sketch distinguishes smooth branch changes at a critical section from a jump: a jump conserves mass and momentum, not the original Bernoulli head.

Assume a steady, incompressible, inviscid flow with a nearly uniform velocity $u(x)$ across each water section. The channel varies slowly enough for vertical accelerations to be negligible, pressure to be hydrostatic and the water surface to be nearly horizontal across the width. Atmospheric pressure is uniform; neglect surface tension, wall friction and energy losses. The hydraulic equations apply away from jumps and short nonhydrostatic regions.

The Euler equation for horizontal momentum, with hydrostatic pressure, givesIntegrating gives a constant Bernoulli equation head $\mathcal{B}=H+h+u^2/(2g)$. Conservation of mass gives the constant volume discharge $Q=bhu$. Thus the shallow-water specific energy, measured above the local bed, isDefine the Froude number by $F=u/\sqrt{gh}$ for the positive flow direction. ThenAt fixed discharge and width, energy tends to infinity at both zero and infinite depth. It has a unique minimum atIndeed $E_{hh}=3Q^2/(g{b}^2{h}^4)>0$. Above the minimum there are two depth branches: the shallower one is supercritical flow and the deeper one is subcritical flow.

The local long-wave propagation speeds from the shallow water equations are $u\pm \sqrt{gh}$. In subcritical positive flow, one wave family travels upstream and one downstream. In supercritical flow both travel downstream. At critical flow the upstream-directed speed is zero, so the flow can provide hydraulic control separating upstream adjustment from downstream conditions. This statement concerns long waves in the slowly varying hydraulic approximation, rather than all short-wave disturbances.

Assume the shallow-water approximation: the horizontal scale is long compared with the depth, the hydrostatic approximation applies, and the cross-section-averaged velocity is approximately uniform. Neglect viscosity and drag for this part. Volume conservation gives the constant discharge $Q=bhu$. The steady horizontal momentum equation isso its integral is the Bernoulli equation head $\mathcal{H}=H+h+u^2/(2g)$. The shallow-water specific energy measured above the bed is thereforeThe Froude number compares the flow velocity with the long-wave speed $\sqrt{gh}$:At fixed $Q,b$, the shallow-water specific energy tends to infinity as $h$ tends to zero or infinity. Its unique minimum occurs at the critical depthThe two depth branches above that minimum are subcritical flow, $F<1$ with $h>h_c$, and supercritical flow, $F>1$ with $h<h_c$. The long-wave characteristic speeds relative to the bed are $u\pm \sqrt{gh}$. Thus a subcritical flow can receive information from downstream, whereas both characteristic curves travel downstream in a positive supercritical flow.

A hydraulic control is a critical section where one characteristic speed vanishes and a smooth flow can pass between the two branches. Regularity there supplies a condition relating $Q$, the depth and the geometry; together with reservoir or inlet data, it can determine the discharge. Merely finding $F=1$ is not enough: a finite depth gradient also requires the geometric forcing to vanish in the critical momentum equation.

Model the specified drag by a prescribed head loss, $(E+H{)}_x=-\gamma$. A modified conserved head is consequentlywith an arbitrary reference constant absorbed into ${\mathcal{E}}_{\gamma }$. More generally the last term is ${\int }_0^x\gamma (s)ds$. The effective bed elevation for the shallow-water specific energy calculation is $H+\gamma x$. The critical momentum equation becomesThis is the head-loss correction to hydraulic control.

When $\beta =0$, $b=1$, and regularity at $F=1$ gives $-2\eta x_c+\gamma =0$. Therefore, for $\eta ,\gamma >0$,The effective bed $-\eta x^2+\gamma x$ has a strict maximum there, with elevation increment $\Delta ={\gamma }^2/(4\eta )$ relative to $x=0$.

Let $d=h(0)$ and require $h_c=2d$. At the control $Q^2=g{h}_c^3=8g{d}^3$. At $x=0$ the shallow-water specific energy is $d+Q^2/(2g{d}^2)=5d$, while at the control it is $3h_c/2=3d$. Equality of the modified head gives $5d=3d+\Delta$. HenceThe inlet has $F(0{)}^2=8$ and is supercritical flow; the branch whose depth increases into the control makes the required smooth transition. At the control the increasing branch has slope $h_x=\sqrt{2\eta h_c/3}$, as follows by expanding the modified head to second order.

The numerical discharge uses a constant loss rate on the entire segment from $0$ to $x_c$. The wording specifies that rate only near the control, which is sufficient to locate $x_c$ but does not by itself determine the inlet-to-control head loss. If the loss elsewhere is unspecified, write ${\Lambda }_c={\int }_0^{x_c}\gamma (s)ds$. The same calculation gives $h_c=H(x_c)-H(0)+{\Lambda }_c$ and $Q=\sqrt{g}{h}_c^{3/2}$; the boxed value is the constant-loss specialization.

For a steady rectangular-channel flow with discharge $Q=bhu$, the shallow-water specific energy relative to the bed is $E=h+Q^2/(2g{b}^2{h}^2)$. At fixed discharge and width, $E_h=1-F^2$, where the Froude number satisfies $F^2=Q^2/(g{b}^2{h}^3)$. The minimum is $E_c=3h_c/2$, with $h_c=(Q^2/(g{b}^2){)}^{1/3}$. Without dissipation, $E+H$ is the conserved Bernoulli equation head for bed elevation $H$.