European Concepts of Sediment Transportation

Recent investigations indicated that the various aspects of sediment movement are more closely related than was originally thought. Establishment of a sound criterion for determination of the regime of sediment movement offers, at the same time, the possibility of solving individual problems of sediment transportation. A brief review of the European studies will suffice to show more definitely that the stage of incipient motion, the various boundary conditions of sediment movement, and the sediment-transporting capacity are all governed by the same set of variables. These variables are interrelated and their simultaneous inclusion is not necessary for the solution of a given problem. The relationship defining certain stages of sediment movement may become extremely simple if the parameters are suitably selected, and at the same time the effect of numerous variables involved in sediment transportation can be allowed for. European practice distinguishes between sediment studies conducted on a natural watercourse and those conducted experimentally under laboratory conditions. Relationships among parameters describing regimes of sediment movement in many European investigations are presented and analyzed.