Observations of canonical flow resistance in fast-flowing sand bed rivers

Abstract

Field data are here re-interpreted using the Vortex–Drag equation for evaluating the alluvial resistance in a sand bed river. The Vortex–Drag equation introduces the Rossiter resonance concept into alluvial hydraulics. It appears that this equation is more consistent than the Manning approach for the lower alluvial regime since a ripple configuration effectively induces a lower flow resistance coefficient than a duned configuration. A systematic decrease in the control factor down to a canonical value during the transition from the lower to the upper alluvial regime is found for well-contrasted freshet events. It results that during high stream power events with maximum river bed reshaping, the flow pattern is reproduced by simply imposing this canonical value. This is most welcome in alluvial hydraulic routing, because peak-discharge events are generally these which are the most difficult to characterize in a straightforward way, both experimentally and numerically.