Total Sediment Load from SEMEP Using Depth-Integrated Concentration Measurements
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 12
Abstract
This study improves total sediment load calculations on the basis of depth-integrated sediment concentration measurements for channels with significant sediment transport in suspension. The series expansion of the modified Einstein procedure (SEMEP) removes most of the empiricism found in the existing modified Einstein procedures (MEP). SEMEP calculations require field measurements of flow discharge, depth-integrated suspended sediment (SS) concentration, and suspended particle sizes. SEMEP calculates the Rouse number, Ro, from the median particle size measured in suspension . On the basis of the sediment discharge measurements collected from 14 rivers, the accuracy of sediment discharge calculations depend on the ratio of the shear velocity to the settling velocity . SEMEP performs accurately (error less than 25%) and without bias when . Calculations are also acceptable, but less accurate when is between two and five. Both SEMEP and MEP should not be used when the value of , and a simplified formulation on the basis of bed sediment discharge is recommended when .
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This paper is based on the Ph.D. dissertation of the first author at Colorado State University. Support is gratefully acknowledged from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) Albuquerque area office and the Department of Defense through the Center for Geosciences/Atmospheric Research at Colorado State University, under Cooperative Agreement UNSPECIFIEDDAAD19-02-2-0005. The authors would also like to thank Junke Guo at the University of Nebraska for numerous relevant discussions. Similarly, they would like to thank Chris Holmquist-Johnson and David Raff at the USBR Denver office.
References
Burkham, D. E., and Dawdy, D. R. (1980). “General study of the modified Einstein method of computing total sediment discharge.” Water-Supply Paper 2066, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, DC.
Cheng, N. S., and Chiew, Y. M. (1998). “Pickup probability for sediment entrainment.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 124(2), 232–235.
Cheng, N. S., and Chiew, Y. M. (1999). “Analysis of initiation of sediment suspension from bed load.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 125(8), 855–861.
Colby, B. R., and Hembree, C. H. (1955). “Computations of total sediment discharge Niobrara River near Cody, Nebraska.” Water-Supply Paper 1357, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, DC.
Colby, B. R., and Hubbell, D. W. (1961). “Simplified method for computing total sediment discharge with the modified Einstein procedure.” Water-Supply Paper 1593, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, DC.
Dade, W. B., and Friend, P. F. (1998). “Grain-size, sediment-transport regime and channel slope in alluvial rivers.” J. Geology, 106, 661–675.
Einstein, H. A. (1942). “Formulas of the transportation of bed load.” Paper No. 2140, American Society of Civil Engineers, New York.
Einstein, H. A. (1950). “The bed-load function for sediment transportation in open channel flows.” Technical Bulletin No. 1026, USDA, Soil Conservation Service, Washington, DC.
Emmett, W. W. (1980). “A field calibration of the sediment-trapping characteristics of the Helley-Smith bedload sampler.” U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, DC.
Guo, J., and Julien, P. Y. (2004). “Efficient algorithm for computing Einstein integrals.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 130(12), 1198–2001.
Guy, H. P., Simons, D. B., and Richardson, E. V. (1966). “Summary of alluvial channel data from flume experiments, 1956–1961.” Professional Paper 462-I, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, DC.
Holmquist-Johnson, C., Raff, D. A., and Russell, K. (2009). “Bureau of Reclamation Automated Modified Einstein Procedure (BORAMEP) program for computing total sediment discharge.” U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Denver.
Julien, P. Y. (1995). Erosion and sedimentation, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK.
Keulegan, G. H. (1938). “Laws of turbulent flow in open channels.” J. Nat. Bur. Stand., 21(December), 707–741.
Kircher, J. E. (1981). “Sediment analyses for selected sites on the South Platte River in Colorado and Nebraska, and the North Platte and Platte Rivers in Nebraska; Suspended sediment, bedload, and bed material.” U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 81–207, U.S. Dept. of the Interior Geological Survey, Denver.
Lara, J. M. (1966). “Computation of ‘’s’ for use in the modified Einstein procedure.” U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Office of Chief Engineer, Denver.
Lin, L. I.-K. (1989). “A concordance correlation coefficient to evaluate reproducibility.” Biometrics, 45(1), 255–268.
Ott, R. L., and Longnecker, M. (2001). An introduction to statistical methods and data analysis, 5th Ed., Duxbury Thomson Learning, Pacific Grove, CA.
Pemberton, E. L. (1972). Sedimentation Symp. to honor Professor H. A. Einstein, Fort Collins, CO.
Rouse, H. (1937). “Modern conceptions of the mechanics of turbulence.” Trans. ASCE, 102(1965), 463–505.
Shah-Fairbank, S. C. (2009). Series expansion of the modified Einstein procedure, Colorado State Univ, Fort Collins, CO.
Shen, H. E., and Hung, C. S. (1983). “Remodified Einstein procedure for sediment load.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 109(4), 565–578.
Williams, G. P., and Rosgen, D. L. (1989). “Measured total sediment loads (suspended load and bed loads) for 93 United States Streams.” Rep. No. 89-67, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 137 • Issue 12 • December 2011
Pages: 1606 - 1614
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 29, 2009
Accepted: May 26, 2011
Published online: May 28, 2011
Published in print: Dec 1, 2011
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.