TURBULENT FLOW IN SINE-GENERATED MEANDERING CHANNELS by Ana Maria Azevedo Ferreira da Silva A thesis submitted to the Department of Civil Engineering in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada May 1995 copyright © Ana Maria A. F. da Silva, 1995ABSTRACT ‘A method is developed for the computation of rough turbulent steady state flows in sine-generated meandering open-channels: flow cross-section is rectangular, its width is con- stant, the (sufficiently far from the channel entrance) fluid motion is periodic. The method rests on the simultaneous solution of the vertically-averaged equations of motion and continuity expressed in the “channel fitted” system of cylindrical coordinates. In the present formulation, the flow is specified by its scalar fields of longitudinal flow velocities, deviation angles and flow depths. The laboratory measurements were carried out in two 40cm-wide meandering channels; one of them typifying “small sinuosity” (¢, = 30°), the other “large sinuosity” (@ = 110°). In the former channel, the vertically-averaged flow was convectively accelerated at the inner bank, between the crossover and the apex sections; in the latter, it was convectively decel- erated in the same region. It has been found that these two radically différent flow pictures camnot be supplied by the equations of motion, if they are solved for a constant resistance factor (as has been done in previous works). Considering this, in the present thesis, the resistance factor is regarded and treated as a certain function of position, which is determined, among others, by the local channel curvature. The consideration of the resistance factor as a function of position not only renders the computed flows compatible with the flow pictures measured for both, large and small sinuosities, but also makes it possible to realize that, for any given sinuosity, the vertically- averaged flow itself is capable of producing the required bed topography, without any need to invoke cross-circulation (which is hardly present in the wide rivers).ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 am indebted to my supervisor Dr. M.S. Yalin and my co-supervisor Dr. A. Pollard for their invaluable guidance throughout the preparation of this thesis would also like to express my thanks to Dr. W.E. Watt, Dr. K.R. Hall and Dr. R.W. Dalrymple, members of my supervisory committee, and Dr. T.I. Campbell, for their continual and friendly support. I am grateful to Dr. Jaime Melo Baptista and Dr. Joa Soromenho Rocha, from the Laboratério Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC), Lisbon, for providing the means for my experimental research in LNEC. For the construction and maintenance of the experimental facility I am thankful to Mr. Joi Geadas Cabago and Mr. Luis Dias. Finally, I wish to thank A.P. Yalin, who developed the Turbo-Pascal software used in this thesis. Financial support from Queen’s University, the Government of Ontario and LNEC is acknowledged. u1.0 2.0 3.0 40 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF SYMBOLS INTRODUCTION LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Energy loss in a meandering stream 2.2 Plan shape of a meandering stream 2.3. Field and laboratory measurements 2.4 Theoretical studies FUNDAMENTALS OF THE PRESENT FORMULATION OF MEANDERING FLOWS 3.1 General 3.2. Cylindrical coordinates 3.3 Averaging procedures 3.4 Cross-sectional and channel-average values of u and ht 3.5. Sine-generated meandering channels 3.6 Dimensionless expression of flow in a sine-generated channel 3.7 Characteristic aspects of meandering flows 3.8 Vertically-averaged flow 3.9 Some properties of periodic flows 3.10 Side wall effect in straight channels BASIC EQUATIONS; RESISTANCE FACTOR 4.1 Equations of motion and continuity 4.1.1 Vector form 4.1.2 Expression in cylindrical coordinates 4.2. Specification of the flow under study 4.3 Equations of motion and continuity of the flow under study 4.3.1 Reduced equations of motion 4.3.2. Vertically-averaged forms 4.3.3. Turbulence stresses 4.4 Previous approach to the theoretical determination of meandering flows 4.5. Present approach 4.5.1 Deviation angle 4.5.2. Resistance factor 4.5.3 Components of resistance factor Page No. I m VI x 1m5.0 10 8.0 4.6 Side wall effect in meandering channels RATIONALIZATION OF BASIC EQUATIONS AND THEIR SOLUTION METHOD 5.1 Transformation of basic equations 5.2 Dimensionless forms 5.3 Solution procedure 5.3.1 Solution domain and boundary conditions 5.3.2. Derivation of “combined” equation 5.3.3 Elliptic and parabolic forms of “combined” equation 5.3.4 Determination of &, 6. and os 5.3.5 Initial condition LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS; COMPARISON OF MEASURED AND COMPUTED FLOWS 6.1 Experimental set-up 6.1.1 Meandering channels 6.1.2 Flow circuit 6.1.3 Flow bed and its roughness 6.2 Instrumentation and measurement technique 6.2.1 Measurement of local flow depths ft 6.2.2. Measurement of local longitudinal velocities 6.2.3 Measurement of local deviation angles & 6.3. Specification of runs; location of measurements in flow plan 6.4 Results of measurements; comparison with theoretically deter- mined values of , A and & 6.4.1 Flow patterns 6.4.2 Evaluation of the resistance factor 6.4.3 Computed and measured flows (main runs) 6.4.4 Hydraulically smooth bed FURTHER DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 8.1 Conclusions 8.2 Suggestions for future research 8.2.1 Variation of resistance factor in flow plan 8.2.2 Bed topography and fluid flow REFERENCES APPENDIX A Auxiliary mathematical relations APPENDIX B Comparison of the terms of the “combined” equation APPENDIX C Raw data APPENDIX D _Example of file of results of the computer pro- gram LOOP APPENDIX E Grid size effect APPENDIX F Equilibrium bed topography and variation of resistance factor with 6 VITA 9 84 84 85 87 87 89 89) 95 98 98 98 100 102 103 107 109 112 116 116 120 124 142 145 150 150 150 150 151 154 161 168 71 191 198 202 208 VvTable 24 6.1 6.2 63 64 LIST OF TABLES Characteristics of previous experiments in sine-generated channels Geometric properties of experimental channels Specification of granular materials Determining parameters and dimensionless variables of present experiments Values of c, c'-? and er computed for various runs Page No. 4 98 102 us 121Figure Ad ab at 2.3 24 25 31 3.2 33 34 35 3.6 37 3.8 LIST OF FIGURES Location of erosion-deposition zones in natural meandering streams (from Ref. (121]) Idealized version of Fig. 1.1 (from Ref. [121)) Convergence-divergence zones of meandering flows (after Ref. [zip Vertically-averaged velocities as computed in Ref. [103] Comparison of sine-generated curves with the plan shape of meandering streams (from Ref. [69]) Flow past a flat initial bed a) Free surface topography as measured in Ref. [119] ) Free surface velocities as computed in Ref. [119] Bed topography at t= 0 and t~T in a sine-generated laboratory channel (from Ref. [44]) Cross-sections of typical straight and curved regions of the Syr- Darya River in lower reaches (from Ref. {73]) Comparison of measured and computed bed shear stresses (from Ref. [103]) Pertinent geometric characteristics of a meandering stream (after Ref. [121)) Relation between meander wavelength A and flow width B (from Ref. [121]) Bank and bed deformation due to the large-scale horizontal turbulence (after Ref. [121]) ‘Regime development (in time) of the normalized channel slope, width and depth (from Ref. (121]) Regime development (in time) of meander loops Channel fitted cylindrical coordinates Variation of the curvature of circular and composite channels in the flow direction x Variation of channel sinuosity and of relative channel curvature at the apex with the deflection angle 6 (from Ref. [121]) Channel sinuosity versus deflection angle in large Russian rivers (from Ref. [121]) Schematical representation of a meandering flow in three dimen- sions Superimposition of cross-circulation (P) on a convective “base” Superimposition of cross-circulation (F) on a parallel “base” Flow in an infinite circular channel (spiral flow) (from Ref. [121]) Standard deposition pattern due to cross-circulation Mathematical idealization of the flow in sine-generated meandering streams Patterns of a periodic flow in meandering channels Control volumes of a uniform flow in a straight open-channel Page No. ae 10 B B 4 15 20 24 25 27 28 30 32 35, 35 39 40 2 43 45 413.18 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 5.1 5.2 53 5.4 5.5 61 62 63 64 65 6.6 67 68 69 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 Variation of to and c-* across the width of a uniform open-channel flow Velocities v and w in a meandering flow cross-section Bed and free surface elevations in a longitudinal flow section Interrelation between the deviation angle and the cross-sectional variation of longitudinal flow velocity Schematical representation of the vertically-averaged deviation angle @ and the deviation angle w at the bed ‘Stresses acting on unit prism and flow streamlines ‘Stresses acting on unit prism at their respective levels Variation of ¢;? in radial direction at a section of a meandering flow Variation of i and cs? in the wall region b, in a straight channel Variation of i and c;* in the wall region b, in a curved channel Channel region of the length L/2 ‘Computational grid for adopted channel region 9 Flow chart of numerical solution of Eqs. (5.26) Computer programs ‘The variation of the approach channel values of B/R and d(BIR)Idé. along £. (6 = 30°) General view of meandering channels a) small ») large 6 ‘Experimental layout Granulometric curves of bed materials used Equipment used for measurement of longitudinal velocities and free surface elevations Operation scheme of free surface measuring device (from Ref. (102)) Operation principle of the servo-motor of the free surface meas- uring device (from Ref. [102]) Record of free surface fluctuations at various locations (n) of a cross-section and the resulting free surface profile Record of longitudinal velocity fluctuations at various locations (a) of a cross-section and the resulting velocity diagram Device used for the measurement of the deviation angles ‘Sample of measured o-diagrams Location of measurement sections in flow plan Variation of measured and computed values of . along £. a) Run 30,/1* b) Run 110,/3* Measured fields of the flow velocity 7 a) Run 30;/1* b) Run 110,/3* ‘Measured field of the flow velocity i for the run 110:/4 Experimental determination of «(large 8) Experimental determination of c (small @) Toe n B B 16 80 88 1 93 95 7 101 102 104 106 107 108 110 11 112 14 117 117 118 118 119 123 123 vu6.17 6.18 6.19 6.20 621 6.22 Measured and computed dimensionless flow velocity , versus (Run 30,/1*; 6 = 30°) a) Sections 1, _b) Sections 2, ¢) Sections 3, _d) Sections 4, e) Sections 5, _£) Sections 6, g) Sections 7, h) Sections 8 ‘Measured and computed dimensionless flow velocity ¢. versus (Run 110,/3*; @ = 110°) a) Sections 1, _b) Sections 2: ©) Sections 3, d) Sections 4, @) Sections 5, _£) Sections 6, g) Sections 7, _h) Sections 8, Measured and computed dimensionless flow depth ¢y versus 9 (Run 30:/1*; @ = 30°) a) Sections 1, ) Sections 2: ) Sections 3, d) Sections 4, e) Sections 5, £) Sections 6, 2) Sections 7, h) Sections 8 Measured and computed dimensionless flow depth $, versus 9 Run 110,/3*; 6 = 110°) a) Sections 1, b) Sections 2, ©) Sections 3, d) Sections 4; ) Sections 5, £) Sections 6 g) Sections 7, _h) Sections 8 Measured and computed dimensionless flow velocity ¢, versus 9 for smooth bed (Run 30, /2) a) Sections 1, b) Sections 5, Measured and computed dimensionless flow velocity ¢, versus for smooth bed (Run 110, /5) a) Sections 1, b) Sections 5, Variation of flow pattern with 6 ‘Schematical representation of the surface c-* = 4, 9) Expected variation of a, with 6 and Bilty Vertical displacement of the (initially flat) bed surface at an instant 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133, 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 143, 143, 144 144 146 146 151 152 valx LIST OF SYMBOLS (All expressions in this thesis are dimensionally homogeneous, and therefore the quantities below can be expressed in any consistent system of units of measurement) a) General a convective acceleration A cross-sectional area of the flow; also a quantitative property of the flow under study AIP hydraulic radius B flow width b. width of the central flow region (unaffected by side walls) Br regime flow width b width of the flow region affected by side walls D typical grain size (usually Da) e unit vector e average (along the channel length) energy loss E elevation (¢-value) of the free surface & the part of e due to the curvature of the stream @ the part of e due to the bed friction g acceleration due to gravity h local flow depth Ie regime flow depth Jo(6s) Bessel function of the first kind and zero-th order (of 6.) % effective bed roughness Kast effective side wall (bank) roughness Kay correlation coefficient (Eq. (4.49)) 1 Iongitudinal coordinate (Fig. 3.6) L Jength of a meandering channel (in plan view) over one meandering period Lb horizontal burst length L longitudinal coordinate along channel centreline; J, = 0 at the crossover Gig. 3.6) radial coordinate; n= 0 at the centreline (Fig. 3.6) natural coordinate normal to s (Fig. 3.1) flow perimeter flow rate scalar components of the stress tensor II, (Eq. (4.5)) specific volumetric bed-load rate radial coordinate; r = 0 at the centre of channel curvature (Fig. 3.6) radius of curvature of the channel centreline 1. value of R at the apex radius of curvature of a streamline s flow region of the length L/2 streamline; natural coordinate (Fig. 3.1) bed slope of a straight channel bed slope of a meandering channel at any n or r ROP gs RIES OVERSveep 5 (=4) value of S, at the channel centreline (at n = 0 or r= R) regime slope valley slope streamline separating the flow in two (left and right) parts, each con- veying Q/2 time time needed to achieve equilibrium bed topography; also resultant stress opposing the fluid motion within a control volume time needed to achieve regime (equilibrium) conditions local flow velocity vector ‘magnitude of U scalar component of U along ! or /. flow velocity averaged over a control volume 1 and f components of fluctuating flow velocity typical flow velocity scalar component of U along r or part of v due to cross-circulation part of v due to convective acceleration shear velocity (=~70/p ) scalar component of U along z average direction of flow (Fig. 3.1) direction perpendicular to x in flow plan (y = 0 at the side walls) direction perpendicular to x in flow plan (Y. = 0 at y = &,) vertical coordinate elevation of the bed surface (measured from any horizontal reference- plane) dimensionless coefficient in the expression of cj? dimensionless coefficient in the expression of ¢:* specific weight of fluid cross-circulation specific weight of grains in fluid ‘meander amplitude correction factor due to T deflection angle between /. and the x-axis at any flow section L (Fig. 3.1) value of @ at the section 1. = 0 Von Karmann constant ‘meander wavelength kinematic viscosity turbulent kinematic viscosity stress tensor fluid density grain density local shear stress acting on the bed scalar components of the stress tensor IL, (ry = y)x1 b) Dimensionless combinations resistance factor at a location (2; n) of flow part of c due to 7» (friction factor) part of ¢ due to the stresses gy part of ¢ due to wall effect value of ¢, at the side walls (banks) Froude number ( = 1/gh) flow Reynolds number (= usf/r) flow Reynolds number in terms of shear velocity grain size Reynolds number mobility number relative flow intensity density ratio dimensionless counterpart of z dimensionless counterpart of dimensionless counterpart of 1 dimensionless counterpart of counterpart of a quantitative flow property 4 channel sinuosity (= L/A) dimensionless counterpart of hk dimensionless counterpart of dimensionless counterpart of ¢ dimensionless counterpart of 2 deviation angle ©) Special symbols Subscripts: ay cross-sectional average value (Eq. (3.10)) b value near the bed cr value corresponding to the initiation of sediment transport (to the “critical stage”) value along 1 Ib value near the left bank (within b,) m channel-average value (Eq. (3.11) r value along r 1 value near the right bank (within b,) “bat” over a quantity signifies its vertically-averaged value (Eq. (3.9))1.0 INTRODUCTION Meandering in general has attracted the attention of scientists and practising engineers for a long time; and the determination of bed topogaphy was always of a particular interest. ‘As will be seen later on, the theoretical determination of bed topography rests on rather complex equations which can be solved by the numerical methods alone, Hence it is hardly surprising that a noticeable progress in this research field has been achieved only in comparatively recent times — after the advent of high-speed computers. However, no satis- factory method for the determination of bed topography has been produced to date — it is still an ongoing research topic. Jn actual meandering streams, when the bed is deforming, the banks, too, are deforming. Yet, at present it is almost impossible to consider the deformation of bed and banks simulta- neously; and therefore the current studies on the formation of bed topography are conducted by treating the banks as ally rigid. It is assumed, as a rule, that the initial surface of the movable bed is flat: the run commences at the time = 0, The flow past the flat initial bed just after is assumed to possess 7» > (rx) induces the deformation of the bed surface: in some parts 0 is referred to as the initial flow. With the passage of time, this flow (which of the bed, erosion takes place; in some others, deposition. The deformation of the bed sur- and face affects, in turn, the mechanical structure of flow, which affects again the bed, so on. This interaction between the flow and the (deforming) bed surface continues until, at a time ¢ = 7, the equilibrium state is achieved (meaning that the conditions do not vary with time any longer). In the present thesis, when referring to the “bed topography”, we will refer to the totality of the large-scale erosion-deposition zones caused by the curvature of a ‘meandering stream.! Experiment shows that if the deflection angle 6, of a meandering stream is “small” (smaller than ~30°, say), then the bed topography is as shown in Fig. 1.la: the regions of the most pronounced erosion-deposition are in the neighbourhood of the crossovers O and 0’. If, however, @ is “large” (@ > =70°, say), then the (radically different) bed topography is as shown in Fig. 1.1b: the most pronounced erosion-deposition regions are around the 1 The elements of the bed topography are not to be confused with the bed forms, viz ripples, dunes, alternate bars, etc., which are caused by other reasons, which can occur even in straight channels, and which ean be superimposed on the bed topography considered here.: "small 65 {DD erosion deposition Muddy Oreek (Ret 85] ) Helm bend, Lower Wabash 8 (Ret{¢9]) Fig. 1.1 Location of erosion-deposition zones in natural meandering streams (from Ref. [121]) apexes a. (For intermediate 6, viz for ~30° < 0 < ~70°, the erosion-deposition regions are in intermediate, with respect to Figs. 1-1a and b, locations). ‘The development of bed topography is primarily due to the growth of deposition “hills” and erosion “deeps” in the vertical z-direction, their location in the flow plan ((; r) remaining practically the same during 0 < 1 < T (see Section 3.7). But this means that the location of ly) determined already at the very beginning erosion-deposition zones in flow plan is (practic of a run (at f= 0). One can say that the “information” on the (subsequent) bed topography, which develops mainly in its amplitude during 0 < t < T, is “locked” in the mechanical structure of the initial flow. ‘The streamlines of a meandering flow are not parallel to each other: this flow contains the convergence-divergence zones (or the convectively accelerated-decelerated zones) in plan view. If the flow adjacent to one bank is converging, then that adjacent to the opposite bank (in the same stream-reach) is diverging. The sediment transport continuity equation indicates (Section 3.7) that the erosion-deposition zones must be in coincidence with the convergence- divergence areas of the initial flow. Accordingly, the initial flows, which (eventually) create the erosion-deposition zones shown in Figs. 1.a and b (the idealized versions of which are depicted in Figs. 1.2a and b), must be expected to possess the convergence-divergence zonesthat are located in the flow plan as shown in Figs. 1.3a and b, respectively.? The (initial) flows shown in Figs. 1.3 differ from each other because of the sign of the deviation angle « in the region Oa (between the crossover and apex sections). In the flow depicted in Fig. 1.3a, for most of the region Oa, the deviation’ angle is negative, whereas in the flow shown in Fig. 1.3b, it is positive. In the present thesis, the flows in Figs. 1.3a and b will be referred to as “ingoing” and “outgoing” flows, respectively. Although the initial flows corresponding to small and large values of the deflection angle 4 should thus be ingoing and outgoing, respectively, in the previous theoretical works (Smith and McLean 1984 [103], Nelson and Smith 1989a (84), Struiksma et al. 1985 [107], Shimizu 1991 [97]; see also Refs. [85], [106], [108}, {98}, [99]), the computed initial flows were al- ways (i.e. for any 6) ingoing (see e.g. the (computed) velocity diagrams in Fig. 1.4).4 In the ‘works mentioned, the computations were carried out on the basis of the (exact) equations of ‘motion and continuity. Yet, all turbulence stresses q, which appear in the equations of motion with the exception of the bed shear stress 7» (viz qu at z= 0) were, as a rule, neglected. No special measurements have been carried out to reveal how the stresses gy acting within the body of a turbulent flow in a meandering channel vary as functions of position (/; r); nor has any generally accepted theory been produced that would indicate how these stresses should be evaluated. Hence, there is neither an experimental nor a theoretical reason to assume that the effect of all stresses is “negligible” in comparison to that of the bed shear stress 7o The ingoing initial flows computed by the authors mentioned appear to be consistent with reality for small values of 6, in the sense that their convergence-divergence zones, shown in Fig. 1.3a, are in coincidence with the zones of erosion-deposition shown in Fig. 1.1a. However, for large values of @, the computed ingoing pattern of the initial flow (where the flow at the inner bank is convectively accelerated when the apex a is approached) is not likely to be correct — for such a flow can hardly lead to the emergence of largest deposition, viz 2 As will be explained in Section 3.8, the streamlines atthe free surface and atthe bed do not diverge from each ‘other appreciably, particularly ifthe eross-circulation is negligible. Hence, the streamlines in Figs. 1.38 and bb can be viewed as the averaged-along-the-depth streamlines. Here it should also be mentioned that the ‘meandering flows and their consequences (such as bed deformation) are formulated, as a rule, for “periodic states" defined in Section 3.9, and Figs. 13a and b are drawn accordingly. 3 For the terms “ingoing” and “outgoing”, the inner (right) bank is used as “frame of reference”. The part of the “ingoing™ flow adjacent to the inner (ight) bank converges to this bank (along Oa), whereas the corre- sponding part of the “outgoing” flow diverges from it 4 ‘The increment of the longitudinal low velocity wat the inner bank in comparison to is value at the outer bank along Oa means that the flow is “ingoing”.4 | 2 EMMI erosion + [5 coposition Fig. 1.2 Idealized version of Fig. 1.1 (ftom Ref. [121}) : “small” 65 a = er Fig. 1.3 Convergence-divergence zones of meandering flows (after Ref. [121])Vertically-averaged velocities as computed in Ref. [103] the “point bar”, at the inner bank around the apex (Fig. 1.1b). The “ingoing flow solution for all 6.” is accepted by the previous authors, in spite of the fact that their computations rest on a substantial simplification (viz q = 0), while the possibility to appeal to experiment to verify the validity of their solutions appears to have been overlooked. Indeed, the velocity field of a turbulent (initial) flow past a flat (initial) bed has not yet been measured in laboratory channels having a sine-generated plan shape (which is the idealized shape of the actual ‘meandering streams). Yet, the laboratory measurements carried out in various citcular curved channels (see e.g. [30], [35], [93], [105]) give reasons to believe that the meandering flows in sine-generated channels corresponding to large @ need not necessarily be ingoing. Since an ingoing flow cannot create a deposition at the inner bank around the apex, the emergence of the point bar at that location is invariably attributed by the previous authors to the cross-circulation. In their view, which is explained in the Literature Review, the emer- gence and growth of the point bar is mainly due to the accumulation of sediment brought from the outer bank to the inner bank by the cross-circulation — and not due to the deposition of sediment caused by the convective deceleration of the main flow (at the inner bank around the apex). The principal weakness of the cross-circulation oriented approach (which is usually adopted by the laboratory researchers and theoreticians) lies in the fact (first expressed by field researchers and engineers dealing with large rivers) that it is precisely when 6 is large that the cross-circulation and its consequences become negligible. Some of the related views of field researchers are quoted in the Literature Review.From the explanations above, it appears that the equations of motion, as they were evaluated in the previous works, do not reflect the behaviour of the initial flow adequately; as the convective patterns depicted in Figs. 1.3a and b should emerge directly from these equations — without any need to invoke cross-circulation. It appears, moreover, that the relevance of the initial flow was not quite appreciated in the past by the previous authors, And yet no reliable prediction of the bed topography can be achieved if a reliable prediction is to contribute to of the initial flow is not achieved first. The purpose of the present thesis an adequate determination of the initial flow (corresponding to all 6): both theory and exper- iment are involved. ‘The theoretical part of this thesis concerns the rationalization of the equations of motion. ‘The (conventional) determination of the three unknown functions u, v and / is replaced, equivalently, by that of u, o (= v/u) and h. This substitution renders the equations of motion simpler, and it makes them also more suitable for physical interpretation. A. particular ‘emphasis is placed on the evaluation of the flow resistance, for it is this evaluation which is ‘most ambiguous for the present, and which appears to be primarily responsible for the emer- gence of unrealistic results (such as the presence of an “ingoing” flow for any @). Since at the current state of knowledge a rigorous evaluation of the turbulence stresses gy and their derivatives 8q)/@X, (which form the resistance to flow) is impossible, the evaluation of the individual gy is replaced by that of their cumulative effect c~* — o>? (= ®(q) ), where G is the (known) dimensionless bed friction factor.5 (The stresses q appear in the equations of motion only within the function ®(q,), and therefore the evaluation of this function alone, and consequently of the single resistance factor c, is sufficient to reflect the influence of all gy on the fluid motion sought). ‘The behaviour of the resistance factor ¢ (as a function of position), corresponding to a specified meandering flow (i.e. to the specified values of , B/ly and ), is determined theoretically (in conjunction with experimental results). A method is devised for the numerical solution of the pertinent system of equations improved along the afore- mentioned fines. The laboratory measurements were carried out with the following two objectives in 5 Observe that if the stresses qj =0, then © =<. ice. the treatment of gy as “negligible” is equivalent to the (nrealstc) assumption that ¢ has the same (nearly constant) value (¢) at any location of flow.i) to reveal whether the initial flow is really ingoing for small Ho, and outgoing for large 6 — as expected (as shown in Figs. 1.3a and b); or whether it is, after all, always of an ingoing nature (as predicted by the computations produced so far). ii) to determine the flow velocity fields (x) of the sine-generated meandering channels corre- sponding to the large and small values of 6. ‘The measured w-fields are to be used to test the validity of the method suggested in this thesis for the computation of initial flows. They are also used for the assessment of the numerical values of some (theoretically undeterminable) coefficients that are present in the expression of the resistance factor c derived in this thesis The present theoretical analysis rests on the vertically-averaged equations of motion and continuity, which is consistent with the current trend in the field (see e.g. (23], [84], [97], [106}, {107}. The treatment of the wide meandering channels by vertically-averaged equations is justified in Section 3.8. Chapter 2 concerns the literature survey. Chapter 3 contains the fundamental concepts, related to meandering streams, upon which the present thesis rests (it includes the information on sine-generated channels, the dimensionless formulation of meandering phenomenon, the analysis of the convective nature of meandering flows, ete.) Chapter 4 presents the derivation of equations of motion and continuity in the “channel fitted” system of cylindrical coordinates. The expression of the meandering-channel resistance factor ¢ is derived in this chapter. Chapter 5 contains the formulation of pertinent equations in terms of u, w and h; the ‘numerical method for their solution is developed. Chapter 6 concerns the experimental work. (The results of computations and laboratory ‘measurements are compared and discussed in this chapter). Chapter 7 lists the results obtained by the candidate, the discussion of these results being also a part of this chapter. Chapter 8 contains suggestions for future research,2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW A systematic research on meandering has started at the end of the last century. This research was motivated mainly by practical needs, thus the first contributions to the topic were mostly due to river engineers such as M. Fargue, M. P. Du Boys, N. de Leliavsky, H. Engels, C. C. Inglis, S. Leliavskii (see e.g. Refs. [33], [29], [19], [20], [31], (47), (68). Since then, a voluminous literature has been produced on various aspects of meandering streams (mechanics of meandering flows, time growth of their loops, modelling of meandering streams, their bed topography, etc.). Each of these aspects forms a separate and still ongoing research topic in its own right. In this Literature Review, only the contributions directly re- lated to the present thesis will be discussed. 2.1 Energy loss in a meandering stream The energy loss of a flow is always of interest to practising engineers, and it is thus no wonder that a large number of papers has been produced on energy losses in meandering streams. The earlier laboratory measurements of Shukry 1949 [100], Rozovskii 1957 [93], Bagnold 1960 [6], Ippen and Drinker 1962 (48), Soliman and Tinney 1968 [104], among others, were carried out in single circular open-channel bends. ‘These measurements indicate that the energy losses in a curved channel flow increase with the values of /B, B/R and Fr. ‘The measurements conducted by Hayat 1965 [40] and Onishi et al. 1976 [89] in laboratory channels formed by sequences of adjacent 90°-circular ares, which thus resemble the actual ‘meandering channels more adequately, indicate that in these channels, too, the energy losses are affected by h/B, B/R and Fr, and in nearly the same manner. The measurements of Hayat were conducted with a rigid bed, those of Onishi et al. with an equilibrium movable bed: 0.29 < Fr < 0.56, 3 < Bih < 12, BIR = 0.14, 0.27. From the expressions produced (on experimental basis) by Mockmore 1944 [81] and Leopold et al. 1960 [70], and (on theoretical basis) by Rozovskii 1957 [93] and Chang 1983 [16], it follows that, in wide meandering channels, the average (along the channel length) energy loss, ¢, say, due to the curvature is only a small fraction of the energy loss, ¢, say, due to the bed friction, and therefore the total energy loss e ( = ¢, + ¢,) of @ wide meandering stream can, as a rule, be identified with the bed friction loss: e/e,=1. Indeed, their ex- pressions indicate that the ratio e,/e,, which reflects the difference of e/e, from unity, is pro- portional to (t/R,)> ( = ((h/B\(BIR,)}"), where m > 1. Ina natural meandering channel, theratio A/R, usually is rather small (less than 1/100, say) and therefore ¢,/e, can be regarded as negligible even if m= 1 (although, according to Refs. [93] and [16], m = 2). [An informative review of the methods for prediction of energy losses in meandering channels can be found in the recent paper of James 1994 (51}.] 2.2 Plan shape of a meandering stream It was apparently Von Schelling [116], [117] who has succeeded first in deriving a realistic expression of the centreline of an (ideal) meandering stream. The principle of Von Schelling’s derivation can be outlined as follows. Let a and b be two fixed points of a plane. A moving point m starting from the point a must arrive, after a certain number of steps, at the point b: the duration of all steps is equal, i.e, the point m is advancing with a constant speed. At the end of each step, the point m changes its direction by an angle, whose probability of occurrence is assumed to obey the normal law. . According to Von Schelling, the axis of a meandering stream in the flow plan should be identified with that particular path of the point m whose probability of occurrence is the highest. For this path of the highest probability, Von Schelling finds the following re- Tation ° i=+ J ——_#—_, en % [2( cos 6 — cos 6)] and he demonstrates that this path satisfies the condition eae + f, (WR)dl, > min , 2.2) Langbein and Leopold 1966 [66] have shown that the path of the highest probability (2.1) can be approximated by the sine-generated function = 6 cos(2nl, /L) 2.3) (the coefficient 1/e is not present in this relation because each of J. and L (forming the ratio LIL in (2.3)) is proportional to it). “The sine-generated curve closely approximates the shape of real river meanders” Ref. (69], p. 62. And the authors of the works mentioned have demonstrated it with the aid of the graphs as those reproduced in Fig. 2.1. The sine-generated curve has since become the most popular way of expressing the path of a meandering stream.10 ({69] yeu woy) suiwons Suepuvaui jo adeys ued a4p yim soauno paresouod-aus 40 wostaeduso> ve a pre : 7 ‘ tone ro a Hor LE | | Pr omc eae \ / | ™ TaaTSSISSIA STUNNSSIS TW USAW TSTSSISSY sauné sazuoz0 1 ‘Sny ABTIVANMOG WOM (0) TTONY NOUDRNIGIn Ref. [69], it has also been pointed out that “meanders are not mere accidents of nature but the form in which a river does the least work in turning”. The realization of the fact that meandering is not a “mere accident”, i.e. that it “is not an inherently random process”, led ‘Yalin to the conclusion that the “sine-generated curve should be derivable on a non- probabilistic and continuous basis” Ref. [121], p. 164. He succeeded in deriving the sine- generated relation (2.3) as the solution of the following isoperimetric problem of the calculus of variations: “Determine such a function 1/R = $((.) which yields Lt ipyn?, _ t j, (URyPat, > min, @.4a) under the constraint L » (UR), = j (UR)d, = const . @.4b) le It follows that the sine-generated relation (2.3) is the exact solution of Yalin's formulation (2.4), and itis the approximate solution of Von Schelling's formulation (2.2). Although the minimization integrals involve two Afferent functions, viz 1/R and (1/R)', and the constraints are also different (in Yalin, itis the channel-average curvature, while in Von Schelling it is the largest probability), the results obtained are nearly the same: according to Yalin, UR “is", whereas according to Von Schelling it “nearly is", a sine-function. But this means that their minimization integrals (2.2) and (2.4a), respectively, must, in fact, be nearly equal. Indeed, adopting UR = a sin(2xG.) (where a = Bo2x/L and &.= LiL) and thus (UR) = d(URYldl, = a(2n/L) eos(2r8.) for both au- thors, one determines Jaman § Ftorsa=e § Seortaa 2S | ama, Where the integrals on the extreme left and extreme right are but those in (2.2) and (2.49), respestively. (The constant multiplier (Li(2x))? does not affect the minimization procedure), 2.3 Field and laboratory measurements Numerous laboratory measurements have been carried out in the past with the intention to reveal the mechanical structure of a meandering flow and, in this context, the following contributions should be mentioned: Einstein and Harder 1954 [30], Rozovskii 1957 [93], Ippen and Drinker 1962 [48], Fox and Ball 1968 [34], Yen and Yen 1971 [126], Francis and Asfari 1971 [35], Martvall and Nilsson 1972 [77], Mosonyi and Goetz 1973 [83], Varshney uand Garde 1975 [114], Kikkawa, Ikeda and Kitagawa 1976 [56], Choudhary and Narasimhan 1977 [18], Krishnappan and Lau 1977 [62], De Vriend and Koch 1978 [24], Tamai, Tkeuchi and Yamazaki 1983 [110] (see also Tamai, Ikeuchi and Mohamed 1983 [109]), Odgaard 1984 [87], Steffler 1984 (105), Almquist and Holley 1985 [4]. The main intention in these works was to understand how the flow depths, flow velocities, shear stresses, etc., are distributed in a meandering flow. The measurements reported in the works cited were carried out, as a rule, either in single circular channel bends (of various central angles) or in sequences of adjacent circular bends; and, in some cases, sequences formed alternately by circular bends and straight channel segments were used. However, as will be clarified in Section 3.5, the flow in such (circular) “meandering” channels is rather different from that in natural meandering streams (Whose idealized form in flow plan is sine-generated). Hence, the results obtained by the authors mentioned are, in fact, of a limited value as far as the understanding (and prediction) of the mechanics of flow in actual meandering channels is concerned. (A more detailed expression of the limitations of the aforementioned laboratory research can be found in [26], [59], [121). Considering this, most of the recent laboratory meandering experiments were carried out in sine-generated channels: Hooke 1974 [43], Hasegawa 1983 (38] (see also Hasegawa and ‘Yamaoka 1983 [39]) Ikeda and Nishimura 1986 [44], Whiting and Dietrich 1993a,b,c [118], {119}, [120}. ooke's experiments (Ref. [43]) were carried out in a sine-generated channel having & = 55°. The fol- lowing flow rates were used: 10, 20, 35 and SOUls. The initial surface of the movable bed was flat, All measurements were conducted over the deformed equilibrium bed surface corresponding to 1 > T. The bed topography and the distributions of bed shear stress and “helix strength” were measured. (The latter two quantities were measured also for a “concrete bed molded to the form of the bed” produced by the low having Q = 35H). Hasegawa (Ref. (38)) investigated the equilibrium bed topography in channels having @ = 20°, 30° and 90°. ‘The distributions of U over the deformed beds are reported for the 20°- and 30°-channel. Ikeda and Nishimura (Ref. [44] conducted one experimental run in a channel having 8 = 40°: only the cquilibrium bed topography was measured Whiting and Dietrich 19930 (Ref, (120}) studied the time development of bed topography in a number of channels having 6 from the range 0 < @ = 20°. However, for most experiments, only observations are reported; the equilibrium bed topography was measured for the channels having fy = 10° and 20°. A similar work is pre- sented by the same authors in Ref. [118], where the channels had 6 = 110° and 115°. In all of the aforementioned works, the atention was focused on the developed bed surface (corresponding to £> T) and on the mechanical structure of the flow past this developed bed surface. The only work where an cffort was made to reveal the flow field over the flat intial bed is that of Whiting and Dietrich 19936 [119]. In this ‘work, a single experiment was carried out in @ channel having @) = 110" and Blly = 13. The measurements were ‘confined solely to the flow depths (see Fig. 2.2); the field of flow velocities w was estimated on the basis of these 12a) Free surface topography ) Free surface velocities as measured in Ref. [119] as computed in Ref. [119] Fig. 2.2 Flow past a flat initial bed measurements (by equating the centrifugal force wih the radial pressure free). Thus they have found (as expected) that the largest w occur in the neighbourhood ofthe crossovers © and O (at ther right and left banks, respectively ig. 2.26. ‘The characteristics determining the experiments ofthe above mentioned authors are summarized in Téble 24 The following aspects of a meandering stream (pertinent to the present thesis) emerge from these experiments (in sine-generated channels): 4) The cross-sectional area of a meandering flow hardly varies from one cross-section to an- other, i.e. along L. Indeed, one cannot detect on the basis of these measurements some zones where the cross-sectional area of a meandering stream is “large” or “small”. Thus, the laboratory measurements indicate that the area A of the initial rectangular cross-section of the flow remains invariant along 1. (and 2), i.e. that the increment of the bed surface at one bank is compensated by the decrement at the other, as shown in Fig. 2.3 (from Ref. (44). ii) the measurements of Hooke [43] and Whiting and Dietrich [118], [120] indicate that there is no standard location for the regions of the most pronounced erosion-deposition. If 6 is, “small”, then they are as in Fig. 1.1a (in the Introduction), and if 1.1b. “From the experiments of Ikeda and Nishimura [44], which were carried out with 4 = 40°, it follows that the intermediate values of 6 lead to the intermediate locations of it is “large”, as in Fig.erosion-deposition zones (je. somewhere between the crossover and apex sections, as has already been pointed out in the Introduction). Table 2.1 Characteristics of previous experiments in sine-generated channels Author % 2 9 Se Bike om is) Hooke 1974 [43] 35° 1.00 1050 =1/500 820 Hasegaws 1983 [38], j 208 0.22 0.3 1160 ™ | 30° 030 © 0.75, 1.87 1/300; 1770.9 12534 | 90° 02 087 1120 16 Ikeda and Nishimura 1986 (48) | 40" 030 2.60 smo 60 Whiting and Dietrich 1993c [120]; 10° 025 © og7.67 240-1210 12.48 | 20° 025 1.04108 © 123011501417 Whiting and Dietrich 1993a (1181 10° 025 osatss = asouie7 15.17 115° 0.125-0.520 042-126 1250-11150 5-64 ‘Whiting and Dietrich 19936 [119] tor 02s 118 4250 33 The studies of bed topography and flow fields have been carried out also in natural streams and the following works appear to be outstanding: Jackson 1975 [49], Hickin 1978 [41], Bridge and Jarvis 1976 [13] (see also Bridge and Jarvis 1977 [12] and 1982 [11], and Bridge 1983 [10], Dietrich, Smith and Dunne 1979 [28] (see also Dietrich and Smith 1983 [27] and Dietrich 1987 (26}), De Vriend and Geldof 1983 [23], Thorne et al. 1983 [112] (see z Tal 1 intial bed deformed bed 05 025 ° 025 os” 8 Fig. 2.3, Bed topography at ¢ = 0 and r~T in a sine-generated laboratory channel (ftom Ref. (44)) 4also Thorne and Rais 1983 [111}). These measureiments, which were carried out in comparatively small rivers (having B/h < 20), appear to agree favourably with those obtained in the sine-generated laboratory channels. However, it would not be prudent to extrapolate ail the information obtained from the aforementioned research conducted in small natural and laboratory streams (having compara- tively small values of B/h) to the large rivers (whose B/h-ratio may amount to a three-digit number). One would expect various aspects of flow to be affected by the ratio B/h in various degrees, For example, the ratio B/h does not appear to have an influence on the location of, erosion-deposition zones corresponding to any 4, and the same can be said with respect to the equality of the (shaded) areas of the flow cross-sections implied by Fig. 2.3. Indeed, consider e.g. the average cross-sections of the (typical) straight and curved regions in the lower reaches of the Syr-Darya River shown in Fig. 2.4. As can be seen from this Figure, although the B/h-ratio of this river is as large as ~50, the shaded areas are still nearly equal. raight | curved Yam) Fig. 2.4 Cross-sections of typical straight and curved regions of the Syr-Darya River in lower reaches (from Ref. [73]) “Which (pertinent) aspects of a meandering stream are affected by the ratio B/h and how” is a question which cannot be answered at present with certainty, for a systematic investigation of the influence of B/h on various aspects of a meandering stream has not yet been carried out. Indeed, “the width-to-depth ratio has received relatively little consideration in recent detailed studies of flow and sediment transport fields in river meanders. The necessity of working on relatively small rivers in order to collect accurate and thorough data has resulted 15in a biasing of observations to stream channels with low B/h, typically 7 to 20” Dietrich 1987 [26], p. 183 and 184, Although the influence of B/h is, in general, not yet known, one can nonetheless assert that the cross-circulation and its consequences are markedly affected by it: the increment of Bih causes the reduction of cross-circulation, which does not seem to have the “universal relevance” attributed to it by the theoreticians and researchers dealing with the small meandering streams. And in this context, Hooke 1980 [42] points out that “the importance of secondary circulation in determining the geometry of river beds in meanders has been over-emphasized for many years, and it will take some time to bring the significance of such flow patterns into proper perspective”. Indeed, the field researchers dealing with large natural rivers having large B/h have, long ago, indicated that “transverse ciculation only takes place in distorted experimental models, and in such natural channels whose width is small as com- pared with the depth ...” Matthes 1941 [79] (Gee also Matthes 1948 [78]). Based on his extensive observations, especially in the Mississippi River, Matthes also mentions that “sediment entering the stream from the scour of the concave banks becomes deposited on the downstream convex bank on the same side of the river, and only a small portion of the eroded material crosses the channel” (see also Ref. (60]). The fact that in the case of large rivers the influence of cross-circulation is only secondary was also noticed by Makaveyvev 1975 [76]: “the influence of circulating flows on the formation of bends consists mainly in that they {facilitate the growth of convex banks”. In this context, Hooke 1974 [43] points out that “while the existence of point bar cannot be attributed to the secondary currents (i.e. to the cross- circulation), the detailed geometry of the bar is at least partly controlled by them”. 2.4 Theoretical studies ‘The mechanical structure of a meandering flow is determined by three equations of motion — usually expressed in the channel-ftted cylindrical coordinates 1, r, z (introduced in [93], (92}, [94]). These three (dynamic) equations of motion together with the (kinematic) equation of continuity constitute a system of four non-linear differential equations which can bbe shown schematically as &(u,u, wi h,1,7, 2, qj, 855,0)=0 k,i,j = 1,2, 3) (2.5a) Vu,v,w,h,l,r,z) =0 (2.56) 16Here p and g are the fluid density and acceleration due to gravity, and 5, is the bed slope; 4, v, w are the scalar components of the velocity vector U along /, r and z, respectively, h is the flow depth, gy are the stresses acting within the fluid.! The four unknown functions u, v, w and h can be solved from the system of four equations above if the stresses qy are evaluated first. ‘The mathematical structure of the non-linear equations of motion (2.5a) is rather com- plex; while the evaluation of the stresses qy for turbulent meandering flows is, as has already ‘been mentioned in the Introduction, not a straightforward task. Hence, it is not surprising that these equations were solved in the past by introducing a number of drastic simplifications and assumptions (although less so in recent works). i+ Apparently it was Rozovskii 1957 [93] who was first to use the equations of motion and continuity to determine the structure of a curved open-channel flow. In his analysis, Rozovskii identifies the meandering flow in a “short” channel region 6. with a fully developed circular flow,? whose radius is equal to the curvature radius R of the meandering channel at the lo- cation | of 8. Accordingly, he takes au/@l = 0 and 4v/@l = 0. Furthermore, he confines his considerations to the neighbourhood of the channel centreline (/.) where w~0; and he assumes that v<¢u. Thus, Rozovskii arrives at the following reduced form of the equations of motion ate. 1 ai ae a ig a 2.6) Using the linear relation 74 = pgS.(h — z) supplied by the first of these equations, and as- suming that the distribution of u = f(¢) is logarithmic, he obtains for the turbulent kinematic viscosity », =£(@) the parabolic distribution. In other words, according to Rozovskii, the z-distribution of y, at any location (; r) of a curved channel flow is exactly the same as that of a two-dimensional straight channel flow. Substituting the so determined y, into T» = pv,dv/dz, and evaluating u with the aid of the logarithmic law, he has succeeded in bringing the second equation of (2.6) into a differential equation for v. Solving analytically this equation, Rozovskii arrives at the expression of v = f(z), which together with the loga- rithmic function u = (2) specify, according to this author, the flow in the neighbourhood of the centreline. Clearly, in the above outlined circular-flow-approach adopted by Rozovskii, 1 See Sub-section 4.1.1 for the meaning of i and jin dy 2 See the description of fully developed cireular flow in Section 3.7. 7the radial velocity v has to be attributed entirely to the cross-circulation (which, in terms of ). Section 3.7, implies v = % fie It appears that the work of Rozovskii has influenced considerably the works of researchers of the next generation, and among them the contributions of Yen 1972 [125], Engelund 1974 [32], Ikeda 1975 [45], Kikkawa et al. 1976 [56], De Vriend 1977 [25] should be mentioned. Indeed, all of these authors have neglected the stresses gy (in comparison to the bed shear stress 79) and all of them have approximated the meandering flow, in a region 6l., by a fully developed circular flow. ‘The expressions produced in the works cited above are basically the same as those of Rozovskii, the differences being mainly due to the different expressions adopted for the evaluation of u and v.. (e.g. in Refs. [125] and [56], it is assumed (as in Ref. [93]) that in [25), », is identified with the product of the mixing length and the magnitude of the flow fz) is a parabolic function; in Refs. [32] and [45], v, is assumed to be constant; velocity vector. Similarly, in all of the references mentioned, with the exception of Ref. [32], the wdistribution is logarithmic; in [32], it is parabolic, but not zero at the bed surface) Consequently, the uv- and 7e-formulae obtained by the next generation of researchers are very similar to each other. Indeed, they are all of the type Fh éyc,zih) @7) bp toy = — UR, + 44) 2.8) where Us, is a typical longitudinal velocity; their expressions differ from each other only be- cause of the differences in Typ, ¢. and 4, ‘Among the authors mentioned, Engelund [32] was the first to realize that a meandering flow cannot be studied by decomposing it into a sequence of circular flow regions — at least because no convective acceleration along / is present in a circular flow, yet it is present (and it is relevant) in a meandering flow. Accordingly, Engelund has included the convective term dual into his longitudinal equation of motion; although no convective term was introduced in his radial equation. The latter equation was, in Ref. [32], merely an equilibrium condition between the centrifugal and radial pressure forces (the radial bed friction was disregarded). Engelund was also the first to consider the flow velocities by means of their averaged along z values. He has thus paved the way for the emergence of the current trend where the role 18of convective acceleration is appreciated and the equations of motion and continuity are used in their “vertically-averaged” forms. ‘The next contributions in this series to be commented are those of Kalkwijk and De Vriend 1980 [54], and De Vriend and Geldof 1983 [23]. In both of these papers, the inertia force of the vertically-averaged longitudinal equation was expressed (in cylindrical coordi- nates) in its full extent, viz. an yy a uae 2.9) However, the radial inertia force was identified with zero and so was the radial bed friction (as in the case of Engelund, Ref. [32]). The two equations of motion were solved, in conjunction with the equation of continuity, numerically by a “forward marching” procedure. ‘The computation method proposed in Ref. [54] was tested with the aid of the flow in a rigid bed laboratory channel (which consisted of a straight inlet-teach and an adjacent single circular bend). In Ref. [23], the flow was computed for a reach of the Dommel River in Holland (which consists of two adjacent loops). In both cases, the computed convective flow zones were in a reasonable agreement with the observed ones. fie The most significant contributions to the determination of the mechanical structure of a ‘meandering flow and its consequences (bed topography) have emerged in the second half of the last decade: Smith and McLean 1984 [103], Nelson and Smith 1989a [84], Nelson and ‘Smith 198% [85]. In all of these works, the vertically-averaged equations are used. The equations of motion, both longitudinal and radial, contain the complete set of convective terms forming the inertia forces. These authors were first to obtain, numerically, the so-called “periodic solution”? for sine-generated channels: a “forward marching” procedure was used. However, in these works too (as in all of the previous works) all stresses, other than 7), were neglected. In Ref. [103], the computed bed shear stresses were compared with those measured by Hooke 1974 [43]. The agreement is only marginal. Indeed, as can be seen e.g. from Fig. 2.5, the measured values exhibit two (darkest) large torareas — before and after the apex a, at the inner and outer banks respectively, whereas the computed values have only one large 7e-area 3 ‘The flow entering an infinitely long periodic, slong x, meandering channel, after the passage of sufficiently large number of loops, exhibits identical structure in each ofthe subsequent loops, “Periodic solution” is that which corresponds to this identity state (see Section 3.9). 19Fig. 2.5 Comparison of measured and computed bed shear stresses (from Ref. [103]) at the inner bank before a (and its extent along / is much shorter). The most characteristic aspect of the computations in Ref. [103], and in fact in any work of the authors mentioned, is that they always yield, for the initial flow (having flat bed), the largest longitudinal velocity i at the inner bank in the neighbourhood of the apex a. Using the terminology of Intro- duction, one can say that the vertically-averaged flow computed by the authors mentioned is invariably “ingoing” (for any é,) — and the more intensely, the larger is 6 (see Fig. 1.4). IE should be noted that the flow computed by these authors for large a still converges towards the inner bank when the apex is approached, even if a “point bar” is present there (Fig. 9 in Ref. (103) In Ref, [84], Nelson and Smith made an attempt to extend the work in Ref. [103] so as to include the formation of bed topography with the passage of time. They invoke (in addition to the equations of motion and continuity) the sediment transport continuity equation, which interrelates the divergence of the transport rate q, with the time variation of the bed level z. The transport rate g, at a location (1; r) of the flow plan is evaluated (with the aid of Yalin’s transport formula [123]) in terms of the (computed) flow properties at that location. ‘Thus, the local time variation of the bed level is associated with the local flow properties. Since the (always ingoing) computed vertically-averaged flow cannot initiate the deposition (point bar) at the inner bank near the apex a, Nelson and Smith introduce, artificially, a “point bar” at a; which, according to them, is caused by cross-circulation, Starting from the flow at (¢ = 0) past the bed so construed, they compute (from the sediment transport continuity ‘equation) the bed level increment (62), corresponding to the time step 64. Knowing (62),they recompute the initial field functions Z, 7 and h (so as to correspond to (62),); the procedure is repeated for fs, 64, ... , etc., until the equilibrium surface, reflected by the zero time-growth of &z, is achieved (at = 7). The bed topographies computed in Ref. [84] in ‘the manner described above so as to correspond to the laboratory bed deformation measure- ments (by Hooke [43] and Whiting and Dietrich [120]) have exhibited — qualitatively — a reasonable agreement. ‘The work reported in Ref. [85] differs from that in Ref. [84] only because the computed characteristics were compared with those of a natural stream (Muddy Creek). ‘A very similar work to that of Smith, McLean and Nelson was conducted, also in the mid-80's, by Struiksma and his co-workers [107], [108], [106]. They have used exactly the same set of vertically-averaged equations of motion and continuity (as those of the former authors), where the stresses qy were also neglected in comparison to 7». ‘The sediment trans- port continuity equation, however, was formulated by means of Engelund-Hansen transport formula (rather than Yalin’s formula). The results of computations were compared in Ref. [107) with their own laboratory measurements. The laboratory flumes used were not sine- generated: they were formed by semi-circles. The agreement between the computed and measured equilibrium bed surfaces was reasonable, One would expect that, for sine-generated channels, the method of Struiksma would yield results similar to those of Smith, McLean and Nelson (for the equations used in both cases are nearly the same, although the numerical ‘methods of solution differ from each other considerably). ‘The only contributions to the topic where not all of qj's were identified with zero are those of Shimizu and co-workers [97], [98], [99]. In these works, the computations were conducted for sine-generated channels and the equilibrium bed topographies obtained were compared with Hasegawa’s experiments [38], [39]. The method of determination of (periodic) solutions and the utilization of cross-circulation are the same as those of Smith, McLean and Nelson; the sediment transport continuity equation was evaluated with the aid of Meyer-Peter formula. {All authors referred to in paragraph (iii) above, with the exception of Shimizu, neglect the stresses q in comparison to 7 and, as a result of their computations, they obtain always the ingoing initial flows (for any 6) — i.e. the flows as that shown in Fig. 1.3a. But, as has, 4 The initial ow computed in Refs. [97], [98}, [99] is also ingoing, in spite of the presence of some non-zero 4 (see Section 4.4 for the expressions of gj adopted in these references) aalready been mentioned in the Introduction, an ingoing flow cannot induce around the apex a the deposition zone at the inner bank (point bar) which invariably occurs there when @ is large. The formation of the point bar is attributed, in the references mentioned, to the cross-circulation (which has at the bed a radial velocity w, (<0) and which is thus assumed to “sweep” the bed material from the outer bank to the inner bank). Since the vertically-averaged value of cross-circulation velocity is zero by definition (Section 3.8), the solution (@, J, h) of the vertically-averaged equations of motion and conti- nuity cannot be affected by the cross-circulation, irrespective of what the value of v, might be. Usually (see e.g. [103], [84], [107], (981), the value of v, is determined (following the derivation pattern of Rozovskii) with the aid of the differential equation we ay dv le ie aie ar (2.10) where the (not yet known) turbulent kinematic viscosity », = f(2), as well as u = f(@) or 7 =f), can be selected (within certain limits, of course) so that the corresponding radial transport rate (q), is capable of yielding 4z/6¢ > 0 at the inner bank in the neighbourhood of a. Most of the contributions presented in this Section will be discussed further in Chapters 3 and 4. In Chapter 4 (Section 4.4), the attention will be focused mainly on the most recent contributions, which are presented above in paragraph (ii), and which are of particular significance to the content of the present thesis. 223.0 FUNDAMENTALS OF THE PRESENT FORMULATION OF MEANDERING FLOWS 3.1 General In the present thesis the following, most recent, definition of meandering is adopted: “meandering is a selfinduced plan deformation of a stream which, under ideal conditions, is periodic and anti-symmetrical with respect to an axis, x say” (Ref. [121], p. 161). According to this definition, where the keyword is “self-induced”, not every flow which has a serpentine shape in plan view is a meandering stream. For example, the flow in a man-made sinuous channel may not be a meandering stream, for this channel is “forced” upon the flow; and there is no guarantee that this flow (specified by certain values of Q and S) would create, in alluvitim of the same roughness, the same sinuous channel, if it is left to itself. The same applies to a winding stream past an irregular natural terrain, whose irregularities have not been created by that stream. ‘Any physical phenomenon that undergoes a mathematical treatment must be brought into aan abstract idealized form; and the meandering phenomenon is no exception. Accordingly, in the present thesis, when referring to meandering and the related phenomena, it will be referred to those of an ideal river flowing in an ideal cohesionless and homogeneous alluvium where ‘no “natural arbitrariness” is present. ‘The terminology and notation which will be used in this thesis are given in the self- explanatory Fig. 3.1. From laboratory and field measurements plotted in Fig. 3.2, it follows that the meander wavelength A is related to the flow width B by the proportionality mB , 6.1) which was first suggested by Yalin 1977 [123]. On the other hand, from research on turbulence (from the measurements conducted in the Uji River by S. Yokosi [127] and from those carried out in some rivers of the former Soviet Central Asia [21], [37], [59], [121] it is known that the length L, of (the largest) horizontal turbulent bursts is also determined by the same proportionality Ip=20B. G2) The equality of the lengths A and Z,, together with the fact that the continual and periodic (along x) meandering of laminar flows has never been observed [113], [121], [123], strongly 23(C211 you 22ye) uwans Suyopuraut v Jo sonstsoIoeseyD sineWIOET weUNIEd ve Ba uowsoro 3A(m) tot : 108) | *| 10! eo °: ‘ee. o ‘A=2nB ee 108 1 ve [& tasonaTony arses WIRD _ esx sa eee 10° seoee 2 ccna i289 10 or > Bem) Fig. 3.2 Relation between meander wavelength A and flow width B (from Ref. [121]) suggests that the initiation of meandering is due to the large-scale horizontal turbulence. The presence of an accidental geometric discontinuity in an otherwise uniform straight channel causes the (arbitrarily distributed) burst modules to acquire a regularized pattern [59], [115], [121]. The impact of the regularized horizontal bursts of the length Z.~2xB on the banks initiates their wavelike deformation with the longitudinal period A (~L,), as shown sche- matically in Fig. 3.3a. If, however, the ratios h/D and B/h happen to be within certain limits (given in Refs. [101], [121], [122) then, before the occurrence of any detectable bank de- formation, the bed becomes covered by alternate bars (whose length A, is also ~2nB [53], {68}, [71], [75], [121]). This (earlier occurring) alternate bars (Fig. 3.3b), acting as “guide- vanes”, facilitate (but do not cause, as has been thought earlier (1), (50), (57), [58], (95)! the growth of the periodic bank deformation — leading eventually to the meandering of the stream. However, turbulence merely initiates the wavelike bank deformation, and supplies it with the value of the wavelength A. ‘The subsequent evolution of a meandering stream, which manifests itself by the growth of the amplitude A of its loops, and thus of its sinuosity o, is 1 “facilitate but do not cause”, at least because the meandering can occur when alternate bars cannot be present, i.e, when A/D and BIh are aot within the “certain limits” mentioned, 25‘not rubbing the bed rubbing the bed bh _* | ig. 3.3 Bank and bed deformation due to the large-scale horizontal turbulence (after Ref. [121)) due to a different reason: it is due to the regime development. As is well known [9], [14], [46], (63], [65], if a certain flow rate Q is compelled to flow in a straight initial channel of the width By and the bed slope S, then with the passage of time this channel will, in general, deform into a (permanent) “regime channel”, having a certain regime width By and regime bed slope Sp.2 Experiment shows [2], [71] that the regime development of B takes place much faster than that of 5 (Fig. 3.4): “B is nearly equal to Bx when the development of S has only just started” [121], p. 149. But this means that the regime development of an alluvial channel is virtually the development of its slope (S,-» S,) for a nearly constant B (~B,). If the “valley slope” S, (which is to be identified with S.) is larger than the regime slope Sp then, with the passage of time, the stream “tries” to reduce its slope (as to achieve Sx) by resorting to meandering, that is, by progressively increasing its length between the points (sections) 0, 2 The role ofthe flow depth h, whichis «property ofthe fow and not of the channel pe e, i only of passive Tale as ar asthe development ofa reyine channel is concemed (se e.g 121). Hence it somite in his {aousston. Indeed, the value of hat any © [Os Ta], when the width and slope have cenain values B and 5, subisher logit automaticaly so" as to. sally the resance equation Q= (Bh)eV/95h, i Sere Drcwy/a5). One can sey Bat h mercly “follows” the regime channel development cased by the (eotive) vantton of B and. 26BIB; S/Sqi ba Suibsriois: O nti value R regime value LW value at the end of sand wave development Regime development (in time) oft normalized channel slope, width and depth (from Ref. [121]) 0’, 0", ... (Fig. 3.5). The above explanation of meander development as a part of regime (or equilibrium) development was first proposed by Bettess [8] and Chang [15], and it was brought into a quantitative form by Yalin [121]. According to Ref. [121], the necessary and sufficient condition for an ideal alluvial stream to meander is the simultaneous fulfillment of the following four inequal WY,>1 3 Re>=50 ; S,>Sx 5 Bln < 25(h/D)'°. 6.3) ‘The present thesis is motivated by the behaviour of the large-scale natural alluvial streams (large natural rivers). Such streams are typified by “large” values of their B/h-ratio (which, in many cases, is a three-digit number: e.g. in Volga River, B/a~130 [73], in 100 [17]; see also Fig. 5.8 in [121], as well as Refs. Mississippi and Yamuna Rivers, it is {36}, [52)); and by their very tranquil flows. Clearly, in such rivers, the bank friction is negligible in comparison to the bed friction, and it is thus irrelevant whether the banks are inclined (@s they really are) or vertical. Considering this, it will be assumed throughout the present thesis that Bihistarge ; Fr (<1) is small, and that the cross-section of the initial flow (before the bed is deformed) is rectangular. Furthermore, the present analysis is carried out for the following conditions: 271- rough turbulent flow; 2- constant Q (steady state flow); 3- constant B (in the sense that it does not vary along L);, 4- virtually rigid banks; 5- sine-generated plan shape. ‘These conditions are in coincidence with those used in the previous contributions [103], [84], [107}, 98], [99]. However, in contrast to the previous works, the present thesis incorporates the alluvial aspects of a meandering stream. Thus A and B are no longer treated as in- dependent: they are treated, in accordance with reality, as interrelated by A~2nB; the width B is regarded as By (~ Q'” (9], [46], (72), [121], etc.), and & is identified with ~2D [121], 1123). Fig. 3.5 Regime development (in time) of meander loops 283.2 Cylindrical coordinates In agreement with the contemporary trend [103], {84], [107], [98], [99], in the present thesis the “channel fitted” system of cylindrical coordinates bnc or ne 64) will be used. This system of coordinates differs from its counterpart in mathematics because the origin of the radial coordinate r is not at a fixed point. The radial coordinate r of a space point P is measured from the centre (C) of the channel curvature at the section® containing the point P. The centre of curvature of a line at one of its points P is the centre of the osculating circle (at that point of the line). The situation described is illustrated in Fig. 3.6a, where the radial coordinates 7, and r; of the points P, and P; are measured from the different origins C, and CG, which are the channel curvature centres at the sections J and IZ (containing the points P, and P). ‘The longitudinal coordinate 1 (or ¢) is measured from the crossover section (Fig. 3.62), its positive direction being in coincidence with the general direction of flow. The coordinate z is directed vertically upwards: its origin can be at any (suitably selected) hori- zontal plane. However, when dealing with meandering streams it is more convenient to locate a point P (in flow plan) as shown in Fig. 3.6b; that is, by means of the distance J, of its section to the crossover (measured along the channel centreline), and the distance n to the channel centreline [32], [103], [98], {99}. In the present thesis, the coordinates J, and on 3.5) are often used (instead of J (or ) and r). The coordinate pairs (.; n) and ([;r) are interrelated as follows and r=n+R. 66) ‘The longitudinal coordinates J and J. can be rendered dimensionless by dividing them by the meander length Z. ‘The dimensionless counterpart of m and z can be obtained by dividing them 3 Channel curvature at a section is the curvature of the channel centreline at that section 2930 % C, ™, Ry Fig. 3.6 Channel fitted cylindrical coordinates by the (constant) channel width B and the channel-averaget flow depth fi, respectively. Thus, one arrives at the dimensionless coordinates a ri ” G7 From (3.6) and (3.7), one determines the relation Loktnij4he Be BL fa Ren app Pareg Ral tad sh G8) 3.3 Averaging procedures Let A be a meandering flow property which varies as a function of positi A= A(L,n,2): the longitudinal period of the flow is L, its constant width being B. The fol- Jowing convention is adopted for various average values of A. 4 Various average values are defined in the next section1. Time-averaging: All flow properties A = A(L., n,z) encountered in this thesis are the time-average properties of a turbulent flow; hence no notation for time-averaging is used. 2. Vertically-averaged value of A = A(L., n, z) is denoted by A: s A=A..m =} J 540. m ade 69) (where h = A(L., n)). 3. Cross-sectional average value of A = A(L, 7, 2) is denoted by An: ~ BR = eet te wig t™e ay = Aavlle) = Fr lee i § enon Ak, nddn. (3.10) 4. Channel-average value of A = A(L., n, 2) (over an integer number of channel cycles) is de- noted by Au: he at t =t fj Anfloat- 6.1) +20 - -1*[4 17" Aq = (const) = + [+ aE: J 4m ade 3.4 Cross-sectional and channel-average values of u and h The fact that Q = A = tohyB is a constant means that the product of the cross- sectional average velocity uy with the cross-sectional average flow depth A,, (in a meandering flow with a constant width B) does not vary from one cross-section to another, i.e. that Bila Ray i @.12) However, Eq. (3.12) does not throw any light as to whether or not 14, and fe themselves re- ‘main constant along /.. On the other hand, experimental measurements carried out in labora- tory and field indicate that the cross-sectional area of a meandering stream remains (nearly) constant along J. (see Section 2.3). But this means that the vertically-averaged longitudinal velocity % must vary (in the flow plan) so that its cross-sectional average value wu, (= Q/A) 31remains invariant along L, And exactly the same must be valid for /, (= Q/Bu,,), since B = const. Considering this, it will be assumed in the mathematical treatments of the present thesis that uy and fy do not vary along /., i.e. that Bay a 79 and 13a) and consequently Uy = Ugy Ad ay = (3.13b) The relations (3.13) will be used in Chapters 4 and 5. 3.5 Sine-generated meandering channels ‘As has been mentioned in the Literature Review, the laboratory research (intending to reveal the behaviour of meandering streams and their consequences) was carried out in the past, usually, in curvilinear channels formed by adjacent circular-channel segments, or by adjacent straight- and circular-channel segments (Fig. 3.7). Although such channels are continuous (in the flow plan), the curvatures 1/r of their J-coordinates and thus the “centrifugal forces”S F. = piir, acting per unit volume of the fluid conveyed by them, are discontinuous Fig. 3.7 Variation of the curvature of circular and composite channels in the flow direction x 5 Following the convention in the field, we refer to putir as the “centrifugal force”. In fact, however, pu2/ is bt a radial component of the inertia force in cylindrical coordinates (see Sub-section 4.1.2). The actual 32at the crossovers O,, Indeed, at the crossovers, (@(1/r)/8l) > e and thus (@F./al) ~ 09; and yet “Nature would never create a channel where the moving fluid elements would experience jolts” (when passing through the crossover sections) [121], p. 165. It is thus not surprising that the plan shape of a natural channel is, under ideal conditions, sine-generated; where 1/r and thus F, vary continuously along 1.6 The present section contains the sine-generated re~ lations which will be used in the present text. ‘The centreline of a sine-generated channel is given by = Gy cos(2nt,) 6.14) (see also Section 2.2), which yields do 1 e He eT snr. G.15) ‘The channel curvature at the apex a is thus a en G16) and at the crossovers 0 @.17) In Ref. [101], the following expression of the sinuosity o of a sine-generated channel was derived: Lo ‘A Ti)" 6 where Ji(0) is the Bessel function of the first kind and zero-th order of 6.7 Substituting the (alluvial) interrelation (3.1), viz ‘centrifugal foree acting on a unit Quid volume moving with the velocity U along its trajectory s (which, in ‘general, is notin coincidence with !) is pr, where 7, is the curvature radius of, & Observe that all L-derivatives of the expression (3.14) of sine-generated curve are (the continuous) sine and ‘cosine functions 7. In the present thesis, J) is computed from the following polynomial approximation (given in Ref. (3D: Js) = 1 — 2.2499997(6/3)? + 1.2656208(0/3)* — 0.3163866(69/3)° + + 0,0444479(6/3)* — 0.003944(6/3)" + 0.0002100(60/3)"" + € (ith € <5 x 10-4, 33Awor, @.19) in (3.18), one determines for the channel length Z Lets, B Tea) me Using (3.20) in (3.15) and (3.16), we get jodo(Oe) Sinn.) and B= Gp Jo(6o) , @.21) respectively. Integrating the first equation in (3.21) along 0 < L < L/2, one arrives at the following expression of the loop-average curvature 2 Gdollo) B (UR), 22) Substituting in (3.8) the value of B/R given by (3.21), one determines for the sine- generated channels the following expression of r/R 71 t WosolOe) sine.) - 8.23) Eq. (3.14) indicates that the plan shape of a sine-generated channel is determined by 6 is only natural for the properties o, L/B and B/R, of the channel geometry to be also functions of @ alone. Clearly, any of these three properties can be used (in lieu of alone, Hence 4) to specify the shape of a sine-generated channel. Fig. 3.8a shows the graphs of the functions 1/o and B/R.. Observe from this Figure that the relative channel curvature B/R, (at the apex) acquires its largest value when 0)~70°. Note also that a meandering channel becomes undistinguishable from a straight channel when 6 approaches to 138°. However, the approach é > 138° cannot be realized, for the loops of a sine-generated channel begin to touch each other already when @,~ 126° (Fig. 3.80). Fig 3.9 shows the agreement of the sinuosity ¢ computed from Eq. (3.18) with the o-data of large natural rivers (in Russia). Figs. 3.8 and 3.9 are taken from Ref. [121], where they are also discussed in more detail. 8 The subscript m (for channel-average) is used here, for i is taken as positive in each loop, then loop-average ‘becomes channel-average, 3435 a b 4 100 ae Lj Bedel0,) = BIR, 0 -~ 1285) 0.00 1 : 050 8 g oN 004 & 02040 60 80 100 120 140160 180 ®, (deg) —= Fig. 3.8 Variation of channel sinuosity and of relative channel curvature at the apex with the deflection angle 4 (from Ref. [121]) o(0) § Pode(04) 4.0 —>8 —. 20 nfo ona Eq(3.18) 32 ta 6 16 085 8.(deg) —> Fig. 3.9 Channel sinuosity versus deflection angle in largeRussian rivers(from Ref. [121]) 3.6 Dimensionless expression of flow in a sine-generated channel i+ A periodic (along x) steady state rough turbulent flow in a sine-generated meandering channel having a specified (e.g. trapezoidal or rectangular) geometry of its cross-section is unambiguously determined by the following n = 6 characteristic parameters Ps O, By Ps Beste» 3.24)where p specifies the nature of fluid; #5, B, fy the channel geometry; & the channel bed roughness, and u, the kinematic state of the flow.? Hence, for any quantitative property 4 of the flow described, we have A= fxl0, O95 Bs Pas Ke» Uw) » 3.25) which can be expressed in the dimensionless form as Thy = Tigi = 4" » Bll» Hy ky) 3.26) (where x, y and z are such as to render II, dimensionless). As is well known [67], [96], [124], the dimensionless variables #, B/lm, hm /ke can al- ways be replaced by any of their three independent combinations; and any variable can always be replaced by its well defined function. For example, the consideration of fa /e can be re- placed by its function G = 25In(11 hy Ik), 6.27) which is the friction factor of a two-dimensional rough turbulent flow whose depth is equal to the channel-average depth /, of the present flow. Thus, one can, equally well, express TL, as Thy = phil = 64(00 5 Blin » C): (3.28) ii- If the property A varies as a function of position, i.e. as a function of (at most) 1, n, z (see Section 3.2); and, consequently, Tl, varies as a function of (at most) &, 9, ¢ — which are the dimensionless counterparts of 1, n, z — then (3.25) and e.g. (3.28) must be generalized into A= fy (0, 80 » Bs iy » Ke te » bo Ms 2) 3.29) Th = BI tp = $,4(6 0 Bll» Gz» Be 8) (3.30) If the consideration of A and Tl, is replaced by that of their vertically-averaged values 4 and Uy, then z and ¢ must be excluded from (3.29) and (3.30), respectively. 9 Ifthe flow is not rough turbulent (vA; /y < 70), then » isan additional parameter, and a Reynolds number (e.. Uphigl¥ OF veh, ele.) is an additional dimensionless variable. 36‘An “experiment” or a “run” is specified by some constant values of fo, B//tg and hal, (or G). Hence, the dimensionless properties I,, corresponding to a “given experiment”, are determined by the following (reduced) forms of (3.26) (or (3.28)) and (3.30) T, = const, and T= 44€.,1,9). @3n Clearly, the value of const, must be expected to vary from one experiment to another, the form of the function ¢, being itself a function of @, B/ha and hy/k, (oF 6). iii- Consider the four “slopes” a, a oh = % > haps or’ A z . dy @.32) which, in general, vary as functions of position (L and n, or g. and 7) in the flow plan. Using A = gl, one determines Th, = Ah ug "Bl; = $7(00, Bilin » Cy» Ee 0) G.33) and thus 2 J, = 65(0o» Bll 65+ Be. 1). @.34) = oy fe EE IA periodic flow in a meandering channel belongs to that class of flow-phenomena where g and J; do not have an independent meaning. In any mathematical expression of the flow these parameters appear only in conjunction with each other, viz in the form of the product g/; (see the equations of motion in Chapter 4). This is why 4,= gJj was used above, and not simply Ahi] 3.7 Characteristic aspects of meandering flows i+ The active forces acting in radial direction per unit fluid volume of a meandering stream are the centrifugal force! F. = pu/r and the pressure difference force F, = — yah/dr. At a given location (1; 7), the force pu’r increases with z (for the longitudinal flow velocities u increase along 0 < z < fh); the force — y0h/@r remaining constant along z. ‘The respective integral forces 10. See footnote 5. 378.35) 6.36) is positive in some regions of the flow, and negative in some others. Let J and II be two sections selected in a flow region where F is e.g. positive; we assume that these sections are separated by the distance 8/~u, (Fig. 3.10). Consider a vertical straight line segment ab formed by the fluid particles of / at a certain instant. One second later, 4b becomes a curve segment absb, of the section IT (where the (shaded) + and — areas obsbs and ota are equal).1! ‘The transformation of ab into adbub. can be considered to occur in the following stages: 1) ab + aH, (due to the transport by u~u,) 2) a ab, (due to the lateral shift caused by F*) 3) ab asbsb, (due to the rotation caused by OF. /Az). All distances measured from bj in lateral direction are the radial velocities (components forming v): vp is the velocity of the shift (at a level z), v. is the radial velocity of rotation (at 2). The shift a, asb; can be to the left or to the right (of ab) (depending on whether F is positive (as in Fig. 3.10) or negative): the “rotation” abs-> absbs is always counterclockwise — as long as the centre of the channel curvature is to the right of the general flow direction L. Observe from Fig. 3.10 that the shift a:b; ab, to the left is (necessarily) accompanied by the convective acceleration of the flow at the left bank and the convective deceleration of the flow at the right bank (and vice-versa if the shift is to the right).1? It should be noted that all line segments such as ab of a cross-section (J) are shifted in the same, left or right, 11 With regard to the explanations tht follow, the fact that the radial velocities v vary along z is relevant; yet, it is not relevant thatthe longitudinal veloctis u, too, vary along z- Hence, forthe sake of simplicity, itis a sumed (with reference to Fig. 3.10) that all uid particles forming the vertical ab are advancing along ! with the same velocity (uq). The consideration of the variation of u along z would merely render the section 1! 10 be a surface rather than a (vertical) plane. 12 It should thus be clear thatthe terms “outgoing” and “ingoing” flows (used in the preceding sections) corre- spond to the left and right shifts ay > ab, respectively. 38Fig. 3.10 ‘Schematical representation of a meandering flow in three dimensions direction; otherwise the flow will have more than one accelerating (or decelerating) zone in its width — which is not possible (see Section 3.9). From the aforementioned, one infers that, in general, a meandering flow is organized as follows: i) In a (7; D-plane, it is formed by two adjacent convectively accelerating and decelerating zones (caused by the shifts ab > a:b). ii) In a (7;z)-section, it contains a circulatory flow, or a “cross-circulation” T (caused by the totality of rotations asbs > asbsb). ‘The combination of (and (ji) yields, as a resultant, a meandering flow which manifests itself as a three-dimensional helicoidal fluid motion. ‘This motion can be viewed as to consist of a “convective base” upon which the cross-circulation is superimposed. The conditions described are shown schematically in Fig. 3.11, where the (L;7)-plane contains the vertically-averaged streamlines (see Section 3.8) which form the “base”. 39Following Ref. [121], the meandering flow components (j) and (ii) will be referred to in this thesis as its “A- and a-components” respectively.!? A pure 6-flow can thus be pictured as (i) with zero (ii) (Fig. 3.11 with P removed); a pure a-flow, as (ii) with zero (i), that is, as a helicoidal flow formed by T superimposed on a “non-convective (parallel) base” (Fis 3.12). converging Fig. 3.11 Fig. 3.12 Superimposition of cross-circulation (T) on a parallel “base” 13 Henoe the reason for using the notation vp and v, forthe radial velocities of the (convective) shift and rotation, respectively, in Fig. 3.10.ii- For a specified channel roughness (&), the intensity of o- and 8-components (i.e. of (i) and () varies depending on the geometry of the meandering channel, which, in the case of a sine-generated channel, means depending on s and B/h, (Section 3.6). ‘The intensity of each component can be characterized by the maximum value of the deviation angle « it generates, viz by (Wane and (mp. In Ref. [121], it has been shown that any «, and thus (qu)e OF (Cau)s, must be proportional to a typical dimensionless channel curvature, such as B/R., Say: (pads ~ = 80) - 6.37) But this means that the ordinates of the curve 6.Jo(6.), reproduced in Fig. 3.8a, can be taken as a “measure of intensity” of a- and 6-components (corresponding to a specified B/h, (and )). Thus each of these components must be expected to be most intense when @)~70° and of almost no significance when 4,0 and 6-> 130°. Unfortunately, the graph in Fig. 3.84 cannot throw any light on the comparative importance of a- and @-components. iii- From the related literature {56], [76], 93], [125], one infers that, for any given 4 and k, the prominence of the a-component progressively decreases with the increment of B/h, — as to become completely negligible for sufficiently large values of this ratio (larger than 100, say). The same does not apply to the G-component: for given 6 and k, it is present for any Bll. But if the B-component is always present, then no meandering stream can be identified with a pure a-flow (shown in Fig. 3.12). Only a fully developed circular flow, that is the flow in an infinite circular channel shown in Fig. 3.13, can be taken as a pure o-flow. Indeed, the characteristics of such a flow cannot vary along the flow direction (/ or /.), and any convective behaviour is thus out of question: all streamlines are parallel to each other, while the cross- circulation I’ remains constant along 1. (as in Fig. 3.12). Yet, following Ref. [93], it was customary to postulate, until recent times ([45}, [56], [125], [126], etc.; see Section 2.4), that a meandering flow (which is a sequence of alternate loops) can be studied with the aid of a fully developed circular channel flow (which is a single infinite loop (of R= consi)). Since any radial component of a fully developed circular flow is entirely due to its cross-circulation T,, any occurrence in the meandering stream (related to flow or sediment) which has a “radial extent” had to be attributed, in the works mentioned, to the cross-circulation. In particular, the initiation (and growth) of the bed deformation, which obviously has a radial extent (for 41Reconst Fig. 3.13 Flow in an infinite circular channel (spiral flow) (from Ref. [121]) the bed level of the adjacent, across the flow width, erosion-deposition zones varies along r) was, and still is, almost invariably attributed in the current literature to the cross-circulation. iv- Before considering the possible association between I’ and bed deformation, the following should be mentioned. As is known from laboratory observations and measurements, the interaction between the flow and the bed topography during 0 0, then the deposition must take place; and if it is converging (if Vq, > 0 and a%/at < 0), then the erosion must occur. i.e, the zones of erosion and deposition are in coincidence with the respective convergence and divergence areas of the flow. 3.8 Vertically-averaged flow The streamlines of a convectively accelerated (or decelerated) meandering flow are shifted sideways (by the force F ) as a whole; and the divergence (in plan view) between the ppatterns of the streamlines at the free surface and at the bed is only feeble, and the more so the larger is the B/h-ratio. It would thus be reasonable to study such flows by means of their vertically-averaged flow patterns. Accordingly, in most of the recent contributions (see e.g. [84], (85), [103], [98], [107)), the flow fields of wide meandering streams are revealed with the aid of the vertically-averaged equations (where u, v and w are averaged along z in accordance with (3.9)). This approach is adopted also in the present thesis. From the definition of cross-circulation (F) it is clear that s J vede = 0 (or any point (37), G40) 0 which means that the vertically-averaged equations cannor reflect any influence of I. Hence, the (currently popular) vertical averaging is particularly suitable (reliable) for those cases when Bih is large (and (thus) I'+0). This is one of the reasons for deriving the present vertically-averaged equations of motion and continuity (in Section 4.3) as to correspond to “large values of B/h”. 3.9 Some properties of periodic flows Fig. 3.15 shows the mathematical idealization of the meandering flow forming the topic of the present thesis: the flow is vertically-averaged, the infinitely long channel is sine- 14 The fact that this (non-deforming) bed surfuce may become covered by bed forms (ripples, dunes, ete.) for > Os beside the point: iti the bed surface itself which is under consideration here.generated, its cross-section is rectangular, The flow in such a channel acquires its periodic (along x or 1.) state, i.e. it exhibits the same pattern in each of the consecutive loops, only sufficiently far downstream from the channel entrance. Accordingly, one can postulate that in the zone I (viz 0 < x mer length) | ar CY (control volume) unit area Fig. 3.17 Control volumes of a uniform flow in a straight open-channel stress 7. Hence, in the central region b., the tractive force F is brought to equilibrium by tp alone.!6 i.e. F = pgSh = 1 (3.49a) T=1 G.49b) Substituting (3.49), together with U-, = @Z, in (3.43), one obtains for the two-dimensional flow within b, 50) Here the (constant throughout b) friction factor c (of the two-dimensional rough turbulent flow) is given by Eq. @.27), viz 16 The hydrostatic pressure forces, which in the preseat case of a parallel flow mutually cancel each other, are sisregarded¢, = 2.5 In(11h ik) . (ff the flow is not rough, then the multiplier 11 is to be replaced by the (known) function of vikiy [94], [121], (123). Suppose now that the unit prism cv is within the “wall region” b, (Fig. 3.18a), where the magnitude of velocities u (at any level z) progressively decreases when the side walls are approached (y+ 0).17 In this case, the side faces of cy; are subjected to the action of the shear stresses 7,., which yield as their resultant the force (acting on cvs) a a, © Oye a 8 an. ie a= fo pang f (rade = Fg = est) Hence, in the wall region b, the tractive force F is opposed by both 7» and q.. i.e. F = pgSh = 1%) + Qu G.52a) and T= 19+ G.52) Substituting (3.52), together with U., = i, in (3.43), one determines for the flow within b, V0 + ale It is relevant to note that in both regions b, and b., we have the same value of the tractive force, viz F = pgh (see (3.49a) and (3.52a)), for neither & nor S vary in a parallel flow when the side walls are approached. But this means that the emergence of g,, which monotonously ‘gSh 53) increases with the decrement of y within b,, must inevitably lead to the monotonous decrement of 7» (when the side walls are approached). [The decrement of both 1» and 7 when y->0 is only to be expected, for the decrement of u (at any level z) and thus of du/dz causes, inevi- tably, the decrement of 7. (= p¢*(Ouldz) [64], [86], {94)).] The situation described is shown schematically in Fig. 3.18b. On the other hand, (3.53) indicates that the decrement of # when the side walls are approached must lead to the corresponding decrement of c (for (5h) is constant). The decrement of c when y+0 is depicted in Fig. 3.18¢ by a corresponding increment of 1/2 ‘The reason for this will be apparent from the following. 17 This to be tacitly understood that y-» 0, which designates the approach to the lef-hand side wall shown in Fig. 3.18, covers also the approach y-> B to the right-hand side wall. 50ay Fig. 3.18 Variation of 7» and c-? across the width of a uniform open-channel flow SISince the colinear stresses are additive, whereas velocities are not, the relation (3.53) can be more appropriately rewritten in the form @.54) ‘At the present lack of any knowledge on the topic, it would be reasonable to assume that, when the side walls are approached, 7 and a decrease so that their ratio r»/pi? remains (nearly) constant. This would imply that 55) is valid even within b. (as indicated by the broken horizontal line ® in Fig. 3.18c). But this ‘means that (3.54) can be expressed as 3.56) where cz? = q./piZ? is entirely due to the shear stresses 7. reflecting the wall effect. [In the later Chapters these shear stresses will be denoted by 7 (to distinguish them from 7, caused by the channel curvature). It should also be noted that, in the present thesis, the addition of stresses will frequently be used, and therefore the utilization of c-? (Which are also additive) will be preferred to that of c; and the term friction factor, or resistance factor, will be used for both, ¢ and c*? (for ¢? are proportional to the Darcy-Weisbach friction factor f.).] No information is available at the present on the variation of cs* with y, or yy (see Fig. 3.18c); other than that the extent , of this variation is comparable with ~(2.5 to 3.5)h (where the actual value of the multiplier of h must be expected to depend on k/h and Klas [121], [123]). Since the “wall effect function” c=? = ©.(9/B, keh, k./(Fe)wa) (even only for the straight channels) has not yet been revealed, the candidate had no alternative but to evaluate (or rather estimate) the wall effect in her own experiments by means of some “reasonable” relations which are developed below. One would expect that, for specified &/h and k/(k)uu, the value of cz* should be dis- tributed along y, in such a way that not only ¢;? itself, but also its derivative des*/dy, should become zero (should have no “kink”) at y= 0. The simplest form of the (dimensionless) function c:* = $.()4/b.) which satisfies this condition is the power form 3233 Ge = Ge Viel) « G7 Here c;2 is the value of cz? at the wall, and G58) (with cu = (K/h, K;Ke)aa) varying in the neighbourhood of 3.0). Using (3.57) and (3.58), one determines for the cross-sectional average value (¢~*),, of c* te Feito) 0 G59) In open-channel hydraulics the effect of side walls, having the same roughness as the bed (&Qe)oxw = 1), is usually taken into account by the hydraulic radius (4/P). i.e. as ty = GVASAIP) = = uh. G.60) e V1 + 2hiB) ‘Yet, according to the present approach, the value of iy is to be expressed (using (3.59), asi? toe ah ~ & Ven. G61) V1 + 2) Gro) Oy /B) For the two approaches to be consistent, one must have 4 =e (3.62) Eliminating b, and c? from Eq. (3.57) (with the aid of (3.58) and (3.62)), one arrives at 6.63) 18 Thus cm < cx the presence of walls makes, as if it were, the channel “rougher”, which is only natural 19 The reason for = is because (1/e)q is approximated by Lc,Hence, if the channel is given, i.e. if c and A are specified, then ¢;*, at a location y., is determined solely by the value of a. Note (from (3.60) and (3.61)) that (c)"*~(c-u, can be expressed also as Ca *( + 2h/B) G64) 344.0 BASIC EQUATIONS; RESISTANCE FACTOR ‘The vertically-averaged equations of motion used in the present computations are orga- fit) and h, rather than the nized so as to determine the three unknown functions 1, & ( conventional 7, U and h. However, the derivation of the equations of motion in terms of 1, @ and h rests on various phases of their derivation in terms of Z, V and hk. Hence, the present Chapter begins with the derivation of the conventional forms of the equations of motion. The present derivations make use of a number of auxiliary mathematical relations and concepts: these relations are outlined in Appendix A. 4.1 Equations of motion and continuity 4.1.1 Vector form ‘The present thesis concerns the steady state turbulent flow (@U/@r=0) of an incompressible real fluid (liquid), and therefore the equation of motion can be expressed, in- dependently of coordinates, 38 wyu=F-ivp+ivn, aD the equation of continuity being vu=0 2) (Gee e.g. (61), [74], [80], [94)). The equation of continuity is straightforward; thus, in this section, the attention will be focused on the equation of motion (4.1) only. The left-hand side of this equation is the convective acceleration a= (UU, 43) the right-hand side is the sum of forces acting per unit fluid mass. The first, second and third terms on the right are the body force, pressure force and the resultant stress force, respec- tively. The stress tensor II, is determined by its vector components q, and its scalar compo- nents gj, as 44) where 55if i= then gy is the normal stress oj;, and (4.5a) iff # j then qy is the shear stress 1. (4.56) As is well known, the stress tensor II, is symmetrical: Way 4.6) (In the present case of a turbulent flow, U, p and qy are to be interpreted as their time-average values). It is assumed that the coordinate As =z is a straight line and that the positive z is directed vertically upwards. Accordingly, the (only) body force, viz the gravity force, can be expressed as F =~ ge,= —V(ge) . @7 which makes it possible to consider (4.1) in the form wu=-vee+S)+5v0. (4.8) 4.1.2 Expression in cylindrical coordinates In the channel-fitted cylindrical system of coordinates, viz Mao, introduced in Section 3.2, the equation of continuity (4.2) becomes au, vy wy ater etr at * “ar 2 Ce) and it is the equation of motion (4.1) which is still to be expressed in these coordinates. i+ Expression of a = (UV)U (in Eq. (4.1)) Denoting the (scalar) projections of U along ¢, rand z by u 4, v= w= = i, respectively, one can write 2 U= ue, +e, +e = Yo ey, 4.10) ist and consequently 5637 (UYU = (U)(ueg + ve, + We.) = = e,(UVu + u(UV}eg + e(UVv + uUV}e, + (UV + UME. 4.11) But, according to Eq. (A.28) (in Appendix A), WV} = — Fe 3 Ue, = Fey 5 UVIe, = 0. 4.12) On the other hand, using (A.17), one determines Cov = 0 Bt + vB Ww Be 4.13) (where 4! = 84) and analogous expressions for (UV)u and (UV)w (where dv/A and W/O appear instead of 6u/@X). Substituting (4.12) and (4.13) in (4.11), one arrives at an wv a=(UyU= uttee vB + wh Be +u tt evans ce _ aw. aw +0 ew Fe tO» G14) where the expressions in’ brackets are the scalar projections of the convective acceleration vector along J (or ), r and z, respectively. ii- Expression of VIL, We have, on the basis of (4.4) and (A.11), 3 7 Y veiw = Lares Lene- mH im 3 vIL=V 6; im 3 y [Eero + » (| (4.15) ‘ é a ag ar aro or 7 =0, Va=t Ve, =+. and58 or a a6 a” aw Ol) eve respectively. Hence (4.15) becomes (Cote + €e + Cn) +A (4.18) where =4 A= F e049 + Cor * O40) + a + Fp Cates + Oe + Cn) + a + Fy Cotes + ety + e0) 4.19) In (4.18) and (4.19) the use has been made of (4.5) and (4.6). Moreover, the subscripts 1, 2, 3 were replaced by $ (or J), r, z, respectively. Observe that 4 is a summation of nine terms, each of which is the following sum of two terms: a a Mn ay Cg => Gt ay (4.20) But as should be clear from the paragraph 3 in Appendix A, out of nine multipliers 3¢,/@% it is only Be, aor and 282. ay r a tee te te ME, @.21) ‘Substituting this value of A in (4.18), one determines for VIL,(4.22) Using in the vector form (4.8) the values of (UV)U and VIL given by (4.14) and (4.22), respectively, and taking into account that A vee +pe= He +plp), 4.23) one arrives at the following three scalar components of the equation of motion in the channel-fitted cylindrical coordinates: By By BH Bway + ap + ae (4.244) (4.240) (4.240) a= ae +4,¢, + ae, 4.25) In the derivation of (4.24), the stresses q) were purposely not expressed in terms of the velocities u and/or their derivatives. Thus, the relations (4.24) are exact in the sense that they do not contain any imperfection that is likely to occur because of the evaluation of the turbu- 59lence stresses q, by the velocities u. As has already been pointed out in the Introduction, such relations are not exactly known for turbulent flows in general and for turbulent curved channel flows in particular, As will be seen later on, the present method of determination of flow (via a single variable friction factor) “by-passes” the evaluation of the stresses gy. 4.2 Specification of the flow under study In all of the previous works ((54, [103], (107), [97], [98], etc.), the meandering flow is specified by a number of restrictions such as “small Fr”, “large B/h”, “small A,/B”, “small 1”, etc. — no indication is given in these works as to whether these restrictions are interre- lated or not; and if yes, then how. The candidate's derivations presented below indicate that a meandering flow, as it is currently studied by the vertically-averaged equations of motion and continuity, needs to be subjected to only two independent restrictions — the rest of the currently used restrictions follow from these two. ‘The present thesis rests on the assumption that B/h is “large” and Fr is “small” (see Section 3.1). The first of these assumptions implies that the h/B-ratio of the (rectangular) initial cross-section of an ideal river is to be treated as “small”:1 h 1 F<" 39° (4.26) Moreover, we have 1 Fre~ 7 . re= Ty > Say. 4.27) ‘The two independent restrictions (4.26) and (4.27), which specify the nature of the meandering flow under study, lead to the following aspects of this flow: 1- From (4.26), which can be symbolized by /B->0, it follows that the resistance of banks is negligible in comparison to that of the bed (which, usually, is also much rougher than the banks). But this means that Limyp 0A) = lity 09 => 4.28) and thus 11 For the (orientaive) purposes ofthis section, the characteristics ha, (Frm, Si and Gy are shown simply as A, Fr, Sand ¢, respectively.Uy, = CV gh 4.29) can be adopted. 2- Consider the maximum value A, = bau of the superelevation 5. It is generally agreed ((14], (36), [48], etc.) that 4,, which usually occurs at the outer (left) bank near the apex a, can bbe approximated by (4.30) Using (4.29) in (4.30), one determines (4.31) where Hence A,/h is “small” because Fr is “small” (A,/h< = 1/10, say). 3+ The ratio A,/B characterizes the maximum magnitude (near the apex a) of the average (along r) value (/;)q of the radial free surface slope J, ( an Ver! <1 Oevb ax = Br (4.32) ‘The right-hand side is the product of two “small” multipliers. i.e. if h/B and A;/h are treated as infinitesimals of the first order, then (J;ja is an infinitesimal of the second order. Hence the flow under consideration (which satisfies (4.26) and (4.27)) is gradually divergent in the radial direction r, From the sketch in Fig. 4.1, it is clear that for any point P of the cross- section we have An hB’ tan d= S Dav < 4.33) 2 Only for the purposes of this section Jb and Jy Gintroduced in Section 3.6) are denoted by the more familiar J and J, respectively. 61ig. 4.1 Velocities v and w in a meandering flow cross-section which means that w is negligible in comparison to v. (Here v is identified with vp, for the equations of motion (and continuity) will presently be averaged along the flow depth and the vertically-averaged value of v, (as has been shown in Section 3.7) is zero. Consequently, there is no point in considering v. at this stage). 4- Since A occurs only once along L/2 (see Section 3.9), the ratio A,/(L/2) characterizes the ‘maximum magnitude (at the banks) of the average (along L) value (J). of the longitudinal free surface slope Jj ( =). Hence : = a fg BA deel <10Det lm = Tey = 2 P=] ee (4.34) ie. (ded < [2 ]I Cel ane- 435 ‘This inequality indicates thatthe divergence (or convergence) of flow in longitudinal direction is even smaller than its gradual divergence in the radial direction [for 2(B/L) < 2K(6)/@n) (Gee Eq. G.20))]. In analogy to (4.33), in this ease we fr.B laa w< pe ]ee- 4.36) {From (4.33) and (4.36) it is clear that the vertical velocities w of the flow under consideration are negligible in comparison to its velocities w and v in the horizontal (L; r)-planes. In other words, the present flow can be pictured as to consist of the streamlines lying in a multitude of horizontal (; r)-planes, each plane corresponding to a certain value of z € [0; A]. This, however, does not mean that we are dealing with a two-dimensional case (which does not vary 62along the third dimension, z). The characteristics of the present flow vary from one horizontal (L; n)-plane to another (as a function of z); only after these characteristics are vertically- averaged will the flow be rendered two-dimensional, i.e. independent of z.] 4.3 Equations of motion and continuity of the flow under study 4.3.1 Reduced equations of motion Neglecting w in comparison to u and v, i.e. substituting w = 0, and thus necessarily ‘re = 0, in the third equation of motion, Eg. (4.24c), one determines? 2 Sock i O=-Zrztp+0 ie (4.37) which yields P=-etD- (4.38) Hence, if w = 0, then Eq, (4.24c) merely indicates that the pressure distribution is hydrostatic (@s it should be in the case of a gradually convergent flow). Denoting the elevation (z-value) of the free surface by E, and taking into account that, at z = E, we have p = 0, one obtains from (4.38) p=¥E~D, (4.39) and one can express the remaining two equations of motion, i.e. Eqs. (4.24a) and (4.24b), as BU eee crane seraee oe +{ ar a (4.402) Fe armel: (4.400) el a a a Here a, and ¢, are the longitudinal and radial scalar components of the convective acceleration a, and E=a+h (see Fig. 4.2), 4D 3 No stress can be present along if there is no flow in that direction.