Laboratory Investigation of Flume Traction and Transportation

This paper describes a laboratory investigation of the problems of flume traction and transportation. Authoritative literature on the subject is also reviewed. Although the experiments are not-and cannot be expected to be-of the high accuracy obtainable in some classes of laboratory work, it is hoped that the results, when suitably corrected and refined, will provide a close guide to a scientific conclusion.

The subject is presented under three main headings: Part I is concerned principally with the tractive force required to cause initial movement of debris; the laboratory investigation by the writer is described in detail, an equation for critical tractive force is presented, and the results obtained by other investigators are tabulated and shown to conform generally to the same equation. Part II deals with the laws of transportation by traction, and Part III, with the laws of transportation by suspension. In each case the writer's experiments are reviewed briefly, while the major part of the presentation consists of theoretical analyses and discussions of the work of other experimenters. Formulas are suggested for making rough estimates of the traction load and the suspended load in either natural streams or regularly shaped channels. The nomenclature is summarized in the Appendix.

This paper is an abstract of a thesis2 entitled“ Hydraulics of Flume Traction and Transportation”.