Einstein conjecture and resting-time statistics in the bed-load transport of monodispersed particles

Abstract

Sediment transport in rivers consists, at moderate discharge stage, of individual grains that undergo a series of step movements and rest periods (bed-load). Following a large number of grain trajectories in time and space is difficult and the results are affected by bias due to censorship of the time-spatial window. Therefore, the data sets available for the description of the statistics of resting-times, travel-time and lengths of the steps, are still insufficient. In this paper, an innovative experimental methodology has been designed and applied to get data representing the evolution of a bed surface and to support a robust statistical analysis of sediment transport. The methodology is based on image sequences taken of a flat bed made of well-sorted (mono-dispersed) particles. The acquired data are interpreted analytically through equations that describe the effects of grain entrainment and deposition. We show that grains’ displacement have a mean value independent of bed-load rate under low to moderate transport intensity for a given sediment type and bed-slope. Hence, we provide a strong validation of the seminal conjecture of Einstein in his theoretical statistical description of sediment transport. Finally, we describe the probability density functions of the resting-time for a few values of the sediment discharge.