Effect of Sand Supply on Transport Rates in a Gravel-Bed Channel
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 131, Issue 11
Abstract
In a series of flume experiments using constant discharge, flow depth, and gravel feed rate, sand feed rates were varied from 0.16 to 6.1 times that of gravel. The bed slope decreased with increasing sand supply, indicating that the gravel could be transported at the same rate, along with increasing amounts of sand, at smaller shear stresses. Prediction of river response to an increase in sediment supply requires prediction of mutual changes in bed composition and transport, and therefore a transport model defined in terms of the grain size of the bed surface. A recent model provides satisfactory prediction of the experimental observations and indicates the general response of gravel beds to increased sand supply. An increase in sand supply may increase the sand content of the river bed and the mobility of gravel fractions, which can lead to bed degradation and preferential evacuation of these sediments from the river.
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Acknowledgments
Experimental work was supported by U.S Environmental Protection Agency STAR Graduate Fellowship UNSPECIFIED91563401. The flume work was made possible with the help of Keith Ritchie, Stephen Kenworthy, and Emily Rogevich. Brendan DeTemple wrote the code for inverse application of the surface-based transport model. The comments of two anonymous reviewers and discussions with David Topping have improved the manuscript, and are very much appreciated.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 131 • Issue 11 • November 2005
Pages: 961 - 967
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 28, 2003
Accepted: Jan 24, 2005
Published online: Nov 1, 2005
Published in print: Nov 2005
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