Higher-order turbulence statistics and multiscale characterization of morphodynamics in a riverbank section with an upstream mining pit

Abstract

Channel dredging has become a common phenomenon across several fluvial systems. Pits dredged in the riverbank can influence the downstream turbulence and affect the bank slope and central channel morphodynamics. Erodible bed experiments were conducted in a laboratory flume having a riverbank cross section with three different bank slopes, i.e., 25°, 31°, and 40° with and without a mining pit. Flow over the bank slope and near the bank toe was most affected by the pit excavation at the channel upstream. Turbulence levels were amplified within the flow over the slope and near the bank toe. The logarithmic scaling range of higher-order fluctuations at the bank toe is greater for with pit case. The complex interaction of simultaneous processes like pit migration, sliding failure and bank erosion, and fluvial erosion was studied at multiple length scales and time scales. A wavelet cross correlation analysis was used to calculate the celerity of bedform migration at the bank toe along the flow. Statistical celerity of bedforms with smaller scales (up to 15 mm length scales) is significantly higher due to pit interaction. The study reveals that instream mining has notable effects on the inherent nature of higher-order turbulence statistics, especially near the bank slope and toe, as well as the multiscale morphological structures.