Variations of bed surface sediment size in a channel bend

Abstract

Variations of sediment size and its gradation of the bed surface layer in a channel bend with nonuniform sediment are investigated experimentally. Four groups of sediment with the same initial median diameter (D0) but different initial size gradation (σ0) have been used for experiments which were run until the equilibrium bed topography was achieved. Analyses of experimental data have yielded the following results: (1) The time of equilibrium for bed evolution decreases as σ0 increases; (2) the median size of sediment (D) for a given section in the bend increases with increasing distance from the inner bank towards the outer bank, and it also increases with increasing σ0; (3) the value of D/D0 along the inner bank decreases with increasing σ0, and it also shows a gradual decrease in the upper half of the bend and a slight recovery in the lower half; and (5) the transverse variation of σ value exhibits a general trend increasing from the inner bank towards the outer bank.