Case Study of Variation of Sedimentation in the Yellow and Wei Rivers
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 141, Issue 3
Abstract
The Sanmenxia Dam built in 1960 in the middle reach of the Yellow River has experienced severe sedimentation problems, not only in the reservoir area itself but also extending hundreds of kilometers in the backwater region. Morphological responses in the middle Yellow River and its tributary, the Wei River, upstream of the dam have generally lagged behind the causal changes in upstream and downstream controls. Based on the geometrical characteristics of a wedge-shaped sedimentation body, a method was derived for calculating equilibrium values of the accumulated sedimentation volume in the channel reaches. Combining the method for calculating with rate law models for channel morphological adjustment, a method for calculating the accumulated deposition volumes was derived. The results showed that the proposed method can accurately simulate sedimentation processes in the study reaches during 1960 and 2011, in the response to the integrated impacts of base level fluctuations and changes in incoming water and sediment discharges. The characteristics of the potential adjusted (equilibrium) morphology was analyzed and it is shown that while the nature of the adjusted (or equilibrium state) of the fluvial system varies dynamically with external conditions, it generally acts as the target for the observed channel adjustments, although the actual values of variables defining the fluvial system seldom adjust to their corresponding equilibrium values due to the effects of multiple disruptions, continuously varying water and sediment inputs, and delayed responses in the fluvial system.
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Acknowledgments
The research reported in this paper was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2011CB403304), National Science and Technology Supporting Plan of the Twelfth Five-Year (Grant No. 2012BAB02B02), Open Research Fund Program of State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering (Grant No. SKLHSE-2014-B-02), and University of Nottingham.
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Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 3 • March 2015
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© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 22, 2014
Accepted: Oct 23, 2014
Published online: Nov 21, 2014
Published in print: Mar 1, 2015
Discussion open until: Apr 21, 2015
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