Modeling Nonuniform Suspended Sediment Transport in Alluvial Rivers
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 128, Issue 9
Abstract
Problems and difficulties in modeling sediment transport in alluvial rivers arise when one uses the theory of equilibrium transport of uniform sediment to simulate riverbed variation. A two-dimensional mathematical model for nonuniform suspended sediment transport is presented to simulate riverbed deformation. Through dividing sediment mixture into several size groups in which the sediment particles are thought to be uniform, the nonuniformity and the exchange between suspended sediment and bed material are considered. The change of concentration along the flow direction, size redistribution, and cross-sectional bed variation can then be described reasonably well by the model. In simulating the flow field with big dry-wet flats, moving boundary problems are solved very well by introducing a so-called finite-slot technique. Verification with laboratory data shows that the model has a good ability to simulate channel bed variations. Last, the model was applied to a real alluvial river system. Variables such as water level, sediment concentration, suspended sediment size distribution, and riverbed variation were obtained with encouraging results.
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Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 128 • Issue 9 • September 2002
Pages: 839 - 847
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 21, 1999
Accepted: Mar 19, 2002
Published online: Aug 15, 2002
Published in print: Sep 2002
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