UGNA2073 OPEN CHANNEL

HYDRAULICS

SEDIMENT TRANSPORT
Sediment Transport
• Most natural channels have mobile beds
• Sufficiently vigorous fluid motions can stir
these into motion
• Most mobile bed are in dynamics equilibrium
• This equilibrium can be disturbed by short
term extreme event (storm, flood) and man
made infrastructure (dams, coastal defences)
Sediment Transport
Basic questions:
• Does sediment transport occur? (Threshold of
motion);
• If so, then at what rate? (Sediment load);
• What net effect does it have on the bed?
(Scour/accretion);
Main types of sediment load (volume of sediment
per second):
– Bed load
– Suspended load
– The combination is total load
Classical Bedforms

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Relevant Properties
Inception of Motion
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Particle Properties: Porosity P
• Porosity= fraction of voids (by volume)
• Typical uncompacted sediment: 𝑃≈ 0.4.

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Flow Properties: Bed Friction

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Flow Properties: Mean-
Velocity Profile

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Flow Properties: Eddy-
Viscosity Profile

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Formulae for Bed Shear Stress

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Threshold of Motion

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Shields’ Diagram (A.F. Shields, 1936)

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Critical Stress

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Finding the threshold of motion

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Inception of Motion in Normal Flow

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 Effect of Slopes
• Gravitational forces may oppose or assist
the initiation of motion

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Bed Load

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Bed Load Models

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Calculating Bed Load

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Suspended Load

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 Concentration
• Concentration C is the volume of sediment per
total volume
• Sediment settles, so concentrations are larger near
the bed
• Hence, upward-moving eddies tend to carry more
sediment than downward-moving ones.
• This leads to a net upward diffusion of material
• Equilibrium when downward settling = upward
diffusion

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Fluxes

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Diffusion Equation for Concentration
(1)

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Eddy Diffusivity

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Diffusion Equation for Concentration
(2)

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Diffusion Equation for Concentration
(2)

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Rouse Distribution

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Calculation of Suspended Load

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Example 1

4.6 m/s
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0.112 m/s
Example 2

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 Example 3

0.451 m/s
2.23 m/s 34
Example 4

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 Example 5

1. Estimate Manning’s n using Strickler’s formula

2. Find the depth of flow; (assume normal flow)
3. Find the bed shear stress
4. Show that the bed is mobile

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