Sediment Transport Mechanics

Sediment is the currency of

geomorphology – it is the
building block of the landscape
over a range of scales.

Why do bedforms, like ripples,

arise and what sets their
spacing?

Martian windstorms and

abrasion of optical sensors.

Sediment transport problems

have both deterministic
(trajectory of a saltating grain)
elements, which must be
computed from first principles,
and stochastic (impact splash
pattern of bombarded grains)
elements, for which we rely on
statistical descriptions.
Bed Load vs. Suspended Load
Show YouTube Video of Bed Load:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAt-
G5mIEZc&feature=BF&list=FLz2qNgPEmhpI&index=4
Grain Entrainment

Entrainment of sediment is a
thresholded problem.

Forms the basis of the concept of

transport competency.

Not grain weight vs. lift force, but

rather grain weight vs. drag force.

Drag force, resulting from fluid

moving past the grain, is
responsible for torquing the grain
out of its resting pocket and
exposing more grain surface area
to a swifter portion of the flow with a
longer lever arm => a positive
feedback kicks in directly after
incipient grain motion and the
process is irreversible.
Incipient Motion:
Torque Balance on a Grain

Occurs when:

Torque tending to move the grain is the product

of the drag force and the appropriate lever arm:

Torque keeping a grain in place is the product of the buoyant

weight of the particle and the lever arm about a point of contact:
Incipient Motion:
Torque Balance on a Grain

Setting these two torques equal,

and rearranging yields:

Incipient Motion:
Torque Balance on a Grain
Need to fill in some details of this equation:

Need the drag coefficient – recall at high Re:

Need expressions for the lever arms:

Need expression for the mean velocity. Obtain from

Law of the Wall and the Mean Value Theorem:

Lastly, we’ll assume that this bed of spherical grains makes:

Incipient Motion:
Torque Balance on a Grain
Plugging the details (Rg, Rd, U, ect.) into the torque balance,

Leaves us with the following:

Constants / geometric factors that depend on the grain's

specific position in pocket can be subsumed into :

1. Bed shear stress necessary to entrain sediment

increases linearly with particle size.
2. Flow velocity required increase as a power law
function of particle diameter (what’s the power?)
3. For k=0.4 and =60o, = 0.08.
4. Comparing with empirical data –plots on right.
Shields Parameter, 

Question to you:

Why might the empirically observed Shield’s parameter be less

than the theoretically derived value of 0.08?

Possible Reasons:

The pocket geometry is highly simplified, so alpha values may be

lower than 60 deg. But why would this not be cancelled out by
alpha values greater than 60 deg?

The Law of the Wall represents a time-averaged version of the

turbulent velocity profile. Higher velocity bursts may kick in that
positive feedback of grain entrainment at lower than expected
values of the Shield’s parameter.
For small grain sizes, why does the
Shield’s relationship break down?
Particle-particle forces: Ratio of A/V gets large, so
electrostatic forces dominate over gravitational forces.
Linear relationship between critical entrainment stress
and particle diameter breaks down; gravity is no longer
dominant force to be exceeded by fluid drag. Platey
shapes don't help.

Flow within the boundary layer: Near flow base,

velocity decreases (lowers Re) transition from turbulent
to laminar flow. Hence, a viscous sublayer exists, within
which small grains can hide from the turbulent bursts

Net result is a trough in the entrainment diagram.

Observing Incipient Motion = Not so easy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3llzwvv1zc&NR=1
The real story?
Turbulent bursts and sweeps.
Suspended Sediment –
Proglacial Kennicott River in full flood, near McCarthy Alaska.
St. Johns River near Jax
Saharan Dust
Grain Approach -
Saltation Trajectories

By increasing the grain

size, we decrease the
variability in saltation path
Suspended Sediment –
Continuum approach derivation –
Definition sketch
Sediment Transport Mechanics
Sediment Transport Mechanics
Suspended Sediment
Concentration Profiles
Mass Flux Profile
Susp. Sed. Discharge to Ocean -
Mississippi River
Sediment Transport Mechanics
Sediment Transport Mechanics
Sediment Transport Mechanics
Sediment Transport Mechanics
Sediment Transport Mechanics
Sediment Transport Mechanics
Sediment Transport Mechanics
Sediment Transport Mechanics