Shear Stress and Hydrodynamic Recovery over Bedforms of Different Lengths in a Straight Channel
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 141, Issue 11
Abstract
Pools and riffles are common morphological features in rivers that are frequently used but poorly specified analogs in restoration design. Here, straight two-dimensional (2D) bedforms are conceptualized as perturbations and flow recovery is measured in a laboratory flume with an array of ultrasonic Doppler velocity profilers (UDVPs). The objectives are to (1) assess the variation of skin friction, turbulent stresses, and total stress; (2) assess the role of topographical feedback on flow recovery; and (3) compare flow recovery in isolated and bedforms in series. The results show that the total shear stress and near-bed turbulence greatly exceed the skin friction in decelerating flow and the pool and that hydrodynamic recovery tends to occur at length scales similar to geophysical scales despite potential negative feedback from the bed. Repeating short bedforms can push the flow to a more turbulent and laterally concentrated equilibrium condition. Implications for sediment entrainment thresholds, existing models of riffle-pool hydrodynamics, and the stability of constructed riffle pools are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Jim Best, Gianluca Blois, and Marcelo Garcia at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign for hosting Lana Obach during her time there, allowing access to the Ven Te Chow Hydrosystems Laboratory, and for providing input and very useful suggestions over the duration of this project. We appreciate the spirit of collaboration in which this work was completed. The insight and suggestions of the Editor, Associate Editor and three anonymous reviewers substantially improved an earlier version of this manuscript. The experimental apparatus was assembled while the first author was the holder of an NSERC Post Doctoral Fellowship. The experiments were conducted with the support of an NSERC Discovery Grant.
References
Afzalimehr, H., and Anctil, F. (2000). “Accelerating shear velocity in gravel-bed channels.” Hydrol. Sci. J., 45(1), 113–124.
Afzalimehr, H., and Rennie, C. D. (2009). “Determination of bed shear stress in gravel-bed rivers using boundary-layer parameters.” Hydrol. Sci. J., 54(1), 147–159.
Bernhardt, E. S., et al. (2005). “Synthesizing US river restoration efforts.” Science, 308(5722), 636–637.
Best, J., and Kostaschuk, R. (2002). “An experimental study of turbulent flow over a low-angle dune.” J. Geophys. Res. C: Oceans, 107(C9), 18-1–18-19.
Best, J. L., Kostaschuk, R. A., and Villard, P. V. (2001). “Quantitative visualization of flow fields associated with alluvial sand dunes: Results from the laboratory and field using ultrasonic and acoustic Doppler anemometry.” J. Visual., 4(4), 373–381.
Biron, P. M., Robson, C., Lapointe, M. F., and Gaskin, S. J. (2004). “Comparing different methods of bed shear stress estimates in simple and complex flow fields.” Earth Surf. Proc. Land., 29(11), 1403–1415.
Brown, R. A., and Pasternack, G. B. (2009). “Comparison of methods for analysing salmon habitat rehabilitation designs for regulated rivers.” River Res. Appl., 25(6), 745–772.
Caamano, D., Goodwin, P., Buffington, J. M., Liou, J. C. P., and Daley-Laursen, S. (2009). “Unifying criterion for the velocity reversal hypothesis in gravel-bed rivers.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 66–70.
Carling, P. A., and Orr, H. G. (2000). “Morphology of riffle-pool sequences in the River Severn, England.” Earth Surf. Proc. Land., 25(4), 369–384.
Celik, A. O., Diplas, P., and Dancey, C. L. (2013). “Instantaneous turbulent forces and impulse on a rough bed: Implications for initiation of bed material movement.” Water Resour. Res., 49(4), 2213–2227.
Church, M., and Jones, D. (1982). “Channel bars in gravel-bed rivers.” Gravel-Bed Rivers, Wiley, Chicester, U.K., 291–338.
Clifford, N. J. (1993). “Differential bed sedimentology and the maintenance of riffle-pool sequences.” Catena, 20(5), 447–468.
Clifford, N. J., and French, J. R. (1993). “Monitoring and analysis of turbulence in geophysical boundaries: Some analytical and conceptual issues.” Turbulence: Perspectives on flow and sediment transport, Wiley, Chicester, U.K., 93–119.
Coles, D. (1956). “The law of the wake in the turbulent boundary layer.” J. Fluid Mech., 1(02), 191–226.
de Almeida, G. A. M., and Rodríguez, J. F. (2011). “Understanding pool-riffle dynamics through continuous morphological simulations.” Water Resour. Res., 47(1), W01502.
Diplas, P., Dancey, C. L., Celik, A. O., Valyrakis, M., Greer, K., and Akar, T. (2008). “The role of impulse on the initiation of particle movement under turbulent flow conditions.” Science, 322(5902), 717–720.
Dwivedi, A., Melville, B., and Shamseldin, A. Y. (2010). “Hydrodynamic forces generated on a spherical sediment particle during entrainment.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 756–769.
Einstein, H. A., and Barbarossa, N. L. (1952). “River channel roughness.” Trans. Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 117(1), 1121–1132.
Goring, D. G., and Nikora, V. I. (2002). “Despiking acoustic Doppler velocimeter data.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 117–126.
Hager, W. H., and Schwalt, M. (1994). “Broad-crested weir.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 13–26.
Jackson, J. R., Pasternack, G. B., and Wheaton, J. M. (2015). “Virtual manipulation of topography to test potential pool-riffle maintenance mechanisms.” Geomorphology, 228, 617–627.
Jackson, R. G. (1976). “Sedimentological and fluid-dynamic implications of the turbulent bursting phenomenon in geophysical flows.” J. Fluid Mech., 77(3), 531–560.
Keller, E. A. (1971). “Areal sorting of bed material: The hypothesis of velocity reversal.” Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 82(3), 753–756.
Keller, E. A., and Melhorn, W. N. (1978). “Rhythmic spacing and origin of pools and riffles.” Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 89(5), 723–730.
Kironoto, B. A., and Graf, W. H. (1994). “Turbulence characteristics in rough uniform open-channel flow.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. Wat. Marit. Energy, 106(4), 333–344.
Kironoto, B. A., and Graf, W. H. (1995). “Turbulence characteristics in rough non-uniform open-channel flow.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. Wat. Marit. Energy, 112(4), 336–348.
Kondolf, G. M., Anderson, S., Lave, R., Pagano, L., Merenlender, A., and Bernhardt, E. S. (2007). “Two decades of river restoration in California: What can we learn?” Rest. Ecol., 15(3), 516–523.
Krogstad, P. Å., and Skåre, P. E. (1995). “Influence of a strong adverse pressure gradient on the turbulent structure in a boundary layer.” Phys. Fluids, 7(8), 2014–2024.
Lave, R. (2008). “The Rosgen wars and the shifting political economy of expertise.” Ph.D. thesis, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 257.
Lee, J. H., and Sung, H. J. (2009). “Structures in turbulent boundary layers subjected to adverse pressure gradients.” J. Fluid Mech., 639, 101–131.
Leopold, L. B., and Wolman, M. G. (1957). “River channel patterns: Braided, meandering, and straight.”, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, DC, 85.
Lhermitte, R., and Lemmin, U. (1994). “Open-channel flow and turbulence measurement by high-resolution Doppler sonar.” J. Atmos. Ocean. Technol., 11(5), 1295–1308.
Lisle, T. E., and Hilton, S. (1999). “Fine bed material in pools of natural gravel bed channels.” Water Resour. Res., 35(4), 1291–1304.
Lisle, T. E., Nelson, J. M., Pitlick, J., Madej, M. A., and Barkett, B. L. (2000). “Variability of bed mobility in natural, gravel-bed channels and adjustments to sediment load at local and reach scales.” Water Resour. Res., 36(12), 3743–3755.
MacVicar, B. (2013). “Local head loss coefficients of riffle pools in gravel-bed rivers.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 1193–1198.
MacVicar, B. J., and Best, J. (2013). “A flume experiment on the effect of channel width on the perturbation and recovery of flow in straight pools and riffles with smooth boundaries.” J. Geophys. Res.-Earth Surf., 118(3), 1850–1863.
MacVicar, B. J., Dilling, S., and Lacey, R. W. J. (2014). “Multi-instrument turbulence toolbox (MITT): Open-source MATLAB algorithms for the analysis of turbulent flow time series.” Comput. Geosci., 73, 88–98.
MacVicar, B. J., Obach, L., and Best, J. L. (2013). “Large-scale turbulent flow structures in alluvial pools.” Coherent flow structures in geophysical flows at earth’s surface, Wiley, Chichester, U.K., 243–259.
MacVicar, B. J., and Rennie, C. D. (2012). “Flow and turbulence redistribution in a straight artificial pool.” Water Resour. Res., 48(2), W02503.
MacVicar, B. J., and Roy, A. G. (2007). “Hydrodynamics of a forced riffle pool in a gravel bed river. 1: Mean velocity and turbulence intensity.” Water Resour. Res., 43(12), W12401.
MacVicar, B. J., and Roy, A. G. (2011). “Sediment mobility in a forced riffle-pool.” Geomorphology, 125(3), 445–456.
MacWilliams, M. L., Jr., Tompkins, M. R., Street, R. L., Kondolf, G. M., and Kitanidis, P. K. (2010). “Assessment of the effectiveness of a constructed compound channel river restoration project on an incised stream.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 1042–1052.
MacWilliams, M. L., Jr., Wheaton, J. M., Pasternack, G. B., Street, R. L., and Kitanidis, P. K. (2006). “Flow convergence routing hypothesis for pool-riffle maintenance in alluvial rivers.” Water Resour. Res., 42, W10427.
MATLAB [Computer software]. Natick, MA, MathWorks.
Milan, D. J. (2013). “Sediment routing hypothesis for pool-riffle maintenance.” Earth Surf. Proc. Land., 38(14), 1623–1641.
Millar, R. G. (1999). “Grain and form resistance in gravel-bed rivers.” J. Hydraul. Res., 37(3), 303–312.
Miller, J. R., and Kochel, R. C. (2009). “Assessment of channel dynamics, in-stream structures and post-project channel adjustments in North Carolina and its implications to effective stream restoration.” Environ. Earth Sci., 59(8), 1681–1692.
Montgomery, D. R., and Buffington, J. M. (1997). “Channel reach morphology in mountain drainage basins.” Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 109(5), 596–611.
Montgomery, D. R., Buffington, J. M., Smith, R. D., Schmidt, K. M., and Pess, G. (1995). “Pool spacing in forest channels.” Water Resour. Res., 31(4), 1097–1105.
Monty, J. P., Harun, Z., and Marusic, I. (2011). “A parametric study of adverse pressure gradient turbulent boundary layers.” Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow, 32(3), 575–585.
Nagano, Y., Tsuji, T., and Houra, T. (1998). “Structure of turbulent boundary layer subjected to adverse pressure gradient.” Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow, 19(5), 563–572.
Newbury, R. W. (2013). “Designing fish-passable riffles as gradient controls in Canadian streams.” Can. Water Resour. J., 38(3), 232–250.
Nezu, I., and Rodi, W. (1986). “Open-channel flow measurements with a laser doppler anemometer.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 335–355.
Onitsuka, K., Akiyama, J., and Matsuoka, S. (2009). “Prediction of velocity profiles and Reynolds stress distributions in turbulent open-channel flows with adverse pressure gradient.” J. Hydraul. Res., 47(1), 58–65.
Papanicolaou, A. N., Kramer, C. M., Tsakiris, A. G., Stoesser, T., Bomminayuni, S., and Chen, Z. (2012). “Effects of a fully submerged boulder within a boulder array on the mean and turbulent flow fields: Implications to bedload transport.” Acta Geophys., 60(6), 1502–1546.
Pasternack, G. B., Bounrisavong, M. K., and Parikh, K. K. (2008). “Backwater control on riffle-pool hydraulics, fish habitat quality, and sediment transport regime in gravel-bed rivers.” J. Hydrol., 357(1–2), 125–139.
Piomelli, U., Balaras, E., and Pascarelli, A. (2000). “Turbulent structures in accelerating boundary layers.” J. Turb., 1, X1–16.
Radspinner, R. R., Diplas, P., Lightbody, A. F., and Sotiropoulos, F. (2010). “River training and ecological enhancement potential using in-stream structures.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 967–980.
Rhoads, B. L., Garcia, M. H., Rodriguez, J., Bombardelli, F., Abad, J. D., and Daniels, M. D. (2008). “Methods for evaluating the geomorphological performance of naturalized rivers: Examples from the Chicago metropolitan area.” River restoration: Managing the uncertainty in restoring physical habitat, Wiley, Chicester, U.K., 209–228.
Rosgen, D. L. (2001). “The cross-vane, W-weir and J-hook vane structures: Their description, design, and application for stream stabilization and river restoration.” Proc., Wetlands Engineering and River Restoration 2001, ASCE, Reston, VA, 22.
Roy, A. G., Biron, P. M., and Lapointe, M. F. (1997). “Implications of low-pass filtering on power spectra and autocorrelation functions of turbulent velocity signals.” Math. Geol., 29(5), 653–668.
Sear, D. A. (1996). “Sediment transport processes in pool-riffle sequences.” Earth Surf. Proc. Land., 21(3), 241–262.
Shields, A. (1936). “Application of similarity principles and turbulence research to bed-load movement.” Mitteilungen der Preuss Versuchsanst für Wasserbau und Schiffbau, 26 (in German).
Simpson, R. L. (1981). “Review—A review of some phenomena in turbulent flow separation.” J. Fluids Eng., 103(4), 520–533.
Smits, A. J., and Wood, D. H. (1985). “The response of turbulent boundary layers to sudden perturbations.” Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech., 17(1), 321–358.
Song, T., and Chiew, Y. M. (2001). “Turbulence measurement in non-uniform open-channel flow using acoustic Doppler velocimeter (ADV).” J. Eng. Mech., 219–232.
Sumer, B. M., Chua, L. H. C., Cheng, N. S., and Fredsoe, J. (2003). “Influence of turbulence on bed load sediment transport.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 585–596.
Thompson, D. M. (2006). “The role of vortex shedding in the scour of pools.” Adv. Water Res., 29(2), 121–129.
Thompson, D. M., and Wohl, E. E. (2009). “The linkage between velocity patterns and sediment entrainment in a forced-pool and riffle unit.” Earth Surf. Proc. Land., 34(2), 177–192.
Thompson, D. M., Wohl, E. E., and Jarrett, R. D. (1999). “Velocity reversals and sediment sorting in pools and riffles controlled by channel constrictions.” Geomorphology, 27(3–4), 229–241.
Vermeulen, B., Sassi, M. G., and Hoitink, A. J. F. (2014). “Improved flow velocity estimates from moving-boat ADCP measurements.” Water Resour. Res., 50(5), 4186–4196.
Wheaton, J. M., et al. (2010). “Linking geomorphic changes to salmonid habitat at a scale relevant to fish.” River Res. Appl., 26(4), 469–486.
White, F. M. (2009). Fluid mechanics, McGraw-Hill, New York.
White, J. Q., Pasternack, G. B., and Moir, H. J. (2010). “Valley width variation influences riffle-pool location and persistence on a rapidly incising gravel-bed river.” Geomorphology, 121(3–4), 206–221.
Whiting, P. J. (1997). “The effect of stage on flow and components of the local force balance.” Earth Surf. Proc. Land., 22(6), 517–530.
Wyrick, J. R., and Pasternack, G. B. (2014). “Geospatial organization of fluvial landforms in a gravel-cobble river: Beyond the riffle-pool couplet.” Geomorphology, 213, 48–65.
Yalin, M. S., and da Silva, A. M. F. (2001). Fluvial processes, International Association of Hydraulic Engineering and Research (IAHR), Delft, Netherlands.
Yang, S. Q., and Chow, A. T. (2008). “Turbulence structures in non-uniform flows.” Adv. Water Resour., 31(10), 1344–1351.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 11 • November 2015
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 1, 2014
Accepted: Apr 2, 2015
Published online: Jun 3, 2015
Published in print: Nov 1, 2015
Discussion open until: Nov 3, 2015
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.