Sediment and hydraulic measurements with computed bed load on the Missouri River, Sioux City to Hermann, 2014

Abstract

Abstract : This work was performed to assist the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha and Kansas City Districts, in quantifying sediment bed load and suspended load at several sites on the Missouri River for the purpose of defining sediment-discharge rating curves and for possible parameterization of bed-load transport equations. Seven sites were selected, and all sites were surveyed three times, separated by at least 4 weeks (or 20 flow difference) between surveys. Multi-beam, acoustic Doppler current profiler, suspended sediment, and bed material samples were collected for each site visit. As requested by the Districts, all units are in English units. In addition to quantifying all the intended data types listed above, bed-load transport values were computed for all sites and all trips using the ISSDOTv2 method and compared with the Meyer-Peter Mueller and Einstein bed-load transport functions. The study provides a complete sediment picture (bed load, suspended bed-material load, and wash load) over a 630-mile reach of a large sand bed river, with seven sites representing increasingly larger flows along the river length. The data set will be very useful for additional studies.