Modeling Sediment Transport in Sine-Generated Meandering Channels

Abstract

This study simulates flow hydraulics, sediment transport, and bed deformation in a large-amplitude meandering flume using CCHE2D, a depth-averaged two-dimensional hydrodynamic and sediment transport model. The planform of the flume is a sine-generated channel with a deflection angle 110 in terms of experiments by Termini (2009). The bed material in the flume is treated as uniform grain-sized sediment and simulated by Wu (2001)'s sediment transport module. Changes in bed elevation are calculated by solving the sediment mass conservation equation. The model is calibrated by comparing the computed results with the observed bed deformation after 150 min. In the numerical experiment, the most pronounced erosion and deposition areas initially occur right above the apex and gradually extend downstream with time. Most sediment is removed from the outer bank deposits at the next bend, but the front crosses the centerline around the apex to complement the scouring. 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.