Hydrodynamic interaction in suspended sediment distribution of open channel turbulent flow

Abstract

In the present study, a theoretical model is proposed to predict the vertical distribution of suspended sediment in open channel turbulent flow. We derive our mathematical model based on the six prominent hydrodynamic mechanisms, which are upward sediment flux due to the turbulent diffusion, downward gravitational settling of the sediment, hindered settling phenomenon, secondary current, fluid induced lift force on the suspended particles and the gradient of Reynolds normal stress of the suspended sediment. The importance of the hydrodynamics is described by the changes of suspended sediment concentration profile in terms of the particle-flow interaction caused by those mechanisms. We also address the significance of the co-existence of those mechanisms for estimating the suspended sediment concentration profile. The present model agrees satisfactorily with a wide spectrum of experimental data in available literature. Unlike the previous researchers, we select a broad range of previously published models of vertical sediment concentration distribution for comparison analysis, and the proposed model shows better prediction accuracy which is confirmed by error analysis.