Bed Erosion Research Articles

MODELING AND FIELD OBSERVATIONS OF CHANNEL PROCESSES OF THE SIBERIAN RIVERS. OB RIVER AT BARNAUL CITY SITE AS A CASE STUDY

Computer simulation of channel morphodynamic for the section of a large river in real unsteady hydrological conditions is conducted. The Ob river channel section at Barnaul city is investigated. At the site considered the channel processes cause serious hazard to some important structures such as the municipal water intake and the power line. The time of modeling covers the period from the flood peak to the low water stage. The simulation is implemented by means of Delft3D program suite. The sediment transport is calculated by two types of Van Rijn’s formula (1984 and 1993). The simulation results are verified by the field data collected at the study site over the same time period. These results show poor agreement with the field data. The river bed erosion spatial pattern modeled differs from the real one significantly. Probably a reason of this discrepancy is that the formula used can’t estimate the sediment transport value correctly.

Modulation of turbulence by saltating particles on erodible bed surface

Abstract

Comparison of new efficient 2D models for the simulation of bedload transport using the augmented Roe approach

The bedload transport system of equations, composed by the two-dimensional shallow water equations for the free surface flow motion and the 2D Exner or bedload transport equation for the erodible bed layer, is used for a wide range of sediment transport processes in environmental surface flows. In this work, the numerical resolution has been implemented using improved and efficient versions of two different strategies for combining the hydrodynamical and morphodynamical components of the system. The first strategy is based on the full coupling of the flow and bedload transport equations (FCM), leading to a new formulation for the intercell numerical fluxes which includes the bed elevation into the resolution of the approximated local Riemann problem (RP) at the edges. The stability region of this method is controlled by the eigenvalues of the coupled Jacobian matrix at each intercell edge. On the second hand, an alternative decoupled strategy is considered based on solving independently the shallow water and the bed transport equations at each time step but controlling the stability region by means of an approximation of the coupled Jacobian matrix eigenvalues. This method, called approximate-coupled (ACM) allows simpler expressions for the numerical fluxes at the edges and ensures the stability of the scheme. Both strategies are based on the Finite Volume (FV) method using Roe’s approach for the computation of the numerical fluxes between neighbouring cells and have been implemented into the same CPU-based numerical kernel in order to perform a realistic comparison of the range of applicability and computational efficiency. The ACM can only guarantee non-oscillatory results when the bed-flow interaction factor is small G≤O(10−3). If the interaction factor G is medium or high, G>O(10−2), the decoupled scheme loses its accuracy and robustness. Furthermore, for highly erosive flows the FCM scheme demonstrates to be more efficient in terms of computational effort than the ACM, one of the key points for large-scale and long-term bedload transport realistic applications.

Revealing the Importance of Capillary and Collisional Stresses on Soil Bed Erosion Induced by Debris Flows

AbstractClimate change is increasing the frequency of extreme rainfall events and the snow cover to melt at high altitudes, which may exacerbate the threat posed by debris flows. Soil bed erosion, the process by which the bed material fails under loadings from a debris flow, is perhaps the most important momentum exchange process that governs the destructive potential of debris flows. Existing erosion theories adopt saturated soil mechanics to describe the failure of soil bed and place a strong emphasis on the basal friction induced shear stress as the driving mechanism. However, soil beds in nature are rarely saturated and field observations have hinted at the importance of collisional stresses as a driving mechanism. In this study, an unsaturated soil mechanics framework is used to characterize soil bed erosion by collisional flows. Experiments were conducted to model the erosion of unsaturated sandy beds with a wide range of initial matric suction values, which is a measure of capillary stresses, by gravel flows. Contrary to the existing literature, the rate of erosion does not increase linearly but demonstrates a parabola‐like relationship with the bed water content because the shear strength of unsaturated soil is governed by capillary stresses. The importance of collisional stresses on soil bed erosion is demonstrated by a newly proposed dimensionless number. Findings indicate that existing erosion models largely underestimate channel bed erosion, especially for soil beds with low water content, and stress the importance of hydro‐mechanical coupling to advance the current state of debris flow hazard delineation.

Numerical simulation of non-rigid landslide into reservoir with erodible sediment bed using SPH method

Landslide phenomenon in accumulated erodible bed sediments in a reservoir is one of the issues in hydraulic and sedimentation sciences that has received little attention. We intend to model two-dimensional changes of the water surface in a reservoir and of an erodible bed caused by a non-rigid landslide using a particle-based meshless approach. In this study, a fully explicit three-step algorithm is used. In this method, approximate numerical solution to the equations of the fluid dynamics is obtained by replacing the fluid with a set of particles. The governing equations for water flow and sand mass movement are solved for each particle. The movement of each particle, which is in interaction with other particles, is tracked. Experiments of a dam break on a dry bed, and submarine rigid and non-rigid landslides have been used to validate the method. Results indicate that the model was successfully calibrated against the measured data. Moreover, good agreement with the measured data demonstrates high capabilities of this method in simulating free-surface flows and wave-related phenomena. After the model validation, changes of erodible bed in a reservoir due to a non-rigid landslide were modelled. In this study, non-rigid landslide masses and sediment materials were modelled by non-Newtonian Carreau-Yasuda fluid, which is the novelty in the analysis of this type of natural hazard. Two possible scenarios were analyzed—one with the sliding material lighter, and the other with the sliding material heavier than the deposited sediments. The model was run until the landslide completely collapsed and its full impact was applied to the reservoir bed sediments. Additionally, we waited until the water level reached a steady state. These examples demonstrate that the model presented in this paper can be used as a reliable tool for modelling these phenomena.

Flow around surface-mounted permeable cubes on solid and deformable surfaces

A wind tunnel experiment was carried out to characterize the flow surrounding rectangular prisms of varying permeability, each set mounted on a stationary plane-bed surface and subsequently on an erodible bed. Laser-Doppler anemometer measurements of the horizontal and vertical velocity components were obtained in a grid that included an area adjacent to the windward face, enveloped the free end of the form, and extended ≈6.5 element heights downwind of the rear wall. From these component measurements, the total velocity (Tuw), turbulence intensity (TI), Reynold Stress (RS) and the turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) were calculated throughout the sampling array. As compared to an impermeable same-sized cube, the near-surface TKE and RS were substantially reduced within the wake flow behind the permeable elements. In the plane-bed experiments, TI generally increased downwind of the permeable cubes, opposite to the trend for the impermeable form. The distinction in TI was less pronounced, however, when the bed morphology developed scour marks. The impermeable cube had the largest amount of erosion relative to its volume, in response to strong downwash along its windward face and the development of an energetic horseshoe vortex. This coherent flow structure was not detected for all permeable forms and the amount of scour was orders of magnitude less. This study would suggest that for restricting erosion, the efficiency of a surface-mounted element can be improved by making the walls of the form permeable rather than solid, thereby increasing energy dissipation in the wake flow while reducing vortex impingement and bed shear stress.

Lithological control on scour hole formation in the Rhine-Meuse Estuary

River deltas commonly have a heterogeneous substratum of alternating peat, clay and sand deposits. This has important consequences for the river bed development and in particular for scour hole formation. When the substratum consists of an erosion resistant top layer, erosion is retarded. Upon breaking through a resistant top layer and reaching an underlying layer with higher erodibilty, deep scour holes may form within a short amount of time. The unpredictability and fast development of these scour holes makes them difficult to manage, particularly where the stability of dikes and infrastructure is at stake.In this paper we determine how subsurface lithology controls the bed elevation in net incising river branches, particularly focusing on scour hole initiation, growth rate, and direction. For this, the Rhine-Meuse Estuary forms an ideal study site, as over 100 scour holes have been identified in this area, and over 40 years of bed level data and thousands of core descriptions are available. It is shown that the subsurface lithology plays a crucial role in the emergence, shape, and evolution of scour holes. Although most scour holes follow the characteristic exponential development of fast initial growth and slower final growth, strong temporal variations are observed, with sudden growth rates of several meters per year in depth and tens of meters in extent. In addition, we relate the characteristic build-up of the subsurface lithology to specific geometric characteristics of scour holes, like large elongated expanding scour holes or confined scour holes with steep slopes. As river deltas commonly have a heterogeneous substratum and often face channel bed erosion, the observations likely apply to many delta rivers. These findings call for thorough knowledge of the subsurface lithology, as without it, scour hole development is hard to predict and can lead to sudden failures of nearby infrastructure and flood defence works.

Hydrodynamic instability of free river bars

In this paper, we explore the hydrodynamic instability of free river bars driven by a weakly varying turbulent flow in a straight alluvial channel with erodible bed and non-erodible banks. We employ linear stability analysis in the framework of depth-averaged formulations for the hydrodynamics and the sediment transport. A significant fraction of the sediment flux is considered to be in suspension. The analysis is performed for the alternate pattern of river bars at the leading order followed by the next order, covering the effects of flow regime. We find that the unstable region bounded by a marginal stability curve depends significantly on the shear Reynolds number, which demarcates different flow regimes, and the Shields number and the relative roughness (particle size to flow depth ratio). The results at the next order stabilize the bars with longer wavenumbers. The variations of threshold aspect ratio with Shields number and relative roughness are studied for different flow regimes. In addition, for a given Shields number and relative roughness, the diagram of threshold aspect ratio vs shear Reynolds number is explained. Unlike the conventional theories of bar instability, the analysis reveals limiting values of Shields number and relative roughness beyond which the theoretical results at the next order produce infeasible regions of instability. The limiting values of Shields number and relative roughness appear to reduce, as the shear Reynolds number increases.

Sediment bed destabilization by an isolated vortex: an experimental approach

The destabilization of an erodible sediment bed by a reproducible impulsive phenomenon is studied experimentally. For this, a specific setup is designed to produce a well-controlled isolated vortex, advected over a uniform sand bed. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements are performed to get fluid flow information; suspended particles images are also recorded. A new measurement technique, based on a stereo-correlation method, provides a precise reconstruction of the bedform morphology over time. Strong turbulent structures (namely sweep events) are evidenced in a near-wall region, where particles are mainly dislodged. The sediment plume follows the vortex: in particular, the upward velocity inside maintains the suspension phenomenon. However, the dispersion process seems to be not dependent on the vortex parameters. Then, the bed morphology is investigated: a scour hole is dug as the vortex hits the granular layer. Its dynamics is described by a typical scour law, even if the initial perturbation is transient. Another area, where the particles settled, can be observed: it behaves like a ripple, with a logarithmic growth of its crest. This deposition region has a specific geometry, studied here by a Fourier contour approach. Finally, a pickup rate is also derived from the morphological data: it appears independent of the vortex and bedform features.

The collapse of a granular column onto an erodible bed: dynamics and morphology scaling

The collapse of a granular column onto an erodible bed is studied experimentally and numerically, and underlying scaling laws on deposition morphology and erosion geometry are mainly considered. The differences in material properties between the column and the erodible bed give rise to the change in flow behaviors, in which the particle density ratio between the column and the erodible bed plays a crucial role. The flow duration apparently increases with initial aspect ratio $$a$$ , but its normalized value tends to a constant at large $$a$$ regardless of particle density ratio. Furthermore, several univariable scaling laws are put forward to quantitatively characterize final deposition morphology and erosion geometry. By rescaling these univariable functions, the generalized scaling laws containing two relevant variables are further proposed, which have been verified to be applicable for a wider range of situations where the degree of erosion dominates the propagation of collapsing flow.

Variation of debris flow/flood formation conditions at the watershed scale in the Wenchuan Earthquake area

A channelized debris flow/flood generally originates from initial gully erosion by superficial runoff that evolves rapidly into massive erosion of the channel bed. Knowledge of the formation conditions of such events is crucial for accurate forecasting, and determination of rainfall and runoff thresholds for such hazards is a primary concern following a strong earthquake. This work proposed a framework for debris flow/flood formation at the watershed scale in two watersheds (area: 2.4 and 32.4 km2) in the Wenchuan Earthquake area (China). The critical runoff and rainfall conditions required for debris flow/flood formation were simulated and their annual variations investigated. Ultimately, the runoff conditions required for debris flow/flood formation in the two studied watersheds were calculated on an annual basis and found to increase in time. Similarly, following consideration of three different rainfall types, critical rainfall conditions were proposed that also showed an increasing tendency. The increase of rainfall and runoff conditions for debris flow/flood formation is attributable to both the recovery of vegetation and the reduction of source materials. In comparison with actual monitored flow behaviors and previously proposed rainfall thresholds, the results showed strong consistency and high forecasting efficiency.

Biological Cohesion as the Architect of Bed Movement Under Wave Action

AbstractCohesive extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) generated by microorganisms abundant on Earth are regarded as bed “stabilizers” increasing the erosion threshold in sedimentary systems. However, most observations of this phenomenon have been taken under steady flow conditions. In contrast, we present how EPS affect the bed movement under wave action, showing a destabilization of the system. We demonstrate a complex behavior of the biosedimentary deposits, which encompasses liquefaction, mass motion, varying bed formations and erosion, depending on the amount of EPS present. Small quantities of EPS induce higher mobility of the sediments, liquefying an otherwise stable bed. Bed with larger quantities of EPS undergoes a synchronized mechanical oscillation. Our analysis clarifies how biological cohesion can potentially put coastal wetlands at risk by increasing their vulnerability to waves. These findings lead to a revised understanding of the different roles played by microbial life, and their importance as mediators of seabed mobility.

Impact of the blockage ratio on the transport of sediment in the presence of a hydrokinetic turbine: Numerical modeling of the interaction sediment and turbine

Interactions between hydrokinetic turbines and near scale and far scale bed sediment particles are considered a critical area of assessment; however, a limited number of research studies have been published to address this issue. The current paper explores the influence of the blockage ratio on the morphology evolution downstream from a hydrokinetic turbine. A modeling framework is derived to predict the significant transport induced by a turbine installed on the erodible fluvial sandy bed surface, such as the Eulerian multi-phase model for the sediment and the Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEMT) for the turbine, using the open source platform OpenFOAM. Two configurations of different blockage ratios are considered. The configurations show differences in the bed morphology and the sediment transport. It has been shown for both configurations that the scour capabilities are enhanced below the turbine due to the acceleration of the flow and increasing local shear stress on the sediment.

Effects of bed longitudinal inflexion and sediment porosity on basal entrainment mechanism: insights from laboratory debris flows

Channel morphology and bed sediment erodibility are two crucial factors that significantly affect debris flow entrainment processes. Current debris flow entrainment models mostly hypothesize the erodible beds are infinite with uniform slopes. In this study, a series of small-scale flume experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of bed longitudinal inflexion and sediment porosity on basal entrainment characteristics. Experimental observations revealed that sediment entrainment is negligible at early stages and accelerates rapidly as several erosion points appear. Continual evolution of flow-bed interfaces changes interactions between debris flows and bed sediments, rendering the interfacial shear action involved into a mixed shear and frontal collisional action. Lower bed sediment porosity will change the spatial arrangement and orientation of particle mixture, strengthen the interlocking and anti-slide forces of adjacent sediment particles, and promote the formation of particle clusters, all of which will increase bed sediment resistance to erosion. By examining the post-experimental bed morphology, the slope-cutting amounts and topographic reliefs are determined to positively correlate with longitudinal transition angles. These high topographic reliefs may indicate the propensity of triangular slab erosion, rather than strip-shaped slab erosion, in non-uniform channels with relatively steep erodible beds. Empirical formulas are obtained that denote the relationships among bed sediment strength, channel curvature radius, and sediment porosity through a multi-parameter regression analysis. This study may aid in clarifying the complex coupling effects of spatial variations in debris flow dynamics as well as sediment erodibility and bed morphology in non-uniform channels with abundant seismic loose material.

Morphological behavior of the Magdalena River delta (Colombia) due to intra and interannual variations in river discharge

Morphological conditions of river deltas define the sedimentological processes of this kind of ecosystem, which are strategic points to locate transport infrastructures, such as ports. River deltas can present morphological variations caused by natural or anthropogenic factors, affecting the navigability conditions of cargo ships. In order to guarantee feasible conditions for the navigability of river deltas and reduce economic costs caused by dredging activities, further studies are required to assess the relationship between hydrological and hydrodynamic processes with the morphodynamic behavior along the river basin. This study evaluates the hydrodynamic and morphodynamic conditions of the Magdalena River delta (Colombia) based on river discharges, water levels, and bathymetric information for the period 2006–2012. Moreover, linear-time-invariant systems (LTI) was developed to perform correlation analysis between the climatic oscillations, such as the ENSO, and the water level conditions in the Magdalena River. The bathymetric analysis showed unsteady morphological conditions along the river bed and high erosion rates during the studied period. The delta presented sedimentation conditions during El Niño years, or periods with negative discharge anomalies, and erosion rates during La Niña years, or periods with positive discharge anomalies. For intrannual scales, dry periods (January–April) presented sedimentation trends, whereas wet periods (September–December) exhibited significant erosion trends.

Three-decadal erosion and deposition of channel bed in the Lower Atchafalaya River, the largest distributary of the Mississippi River

Many world's large rivers have experienced significant sediment reduction in the past century. However, channel aggradation near the mouth of these rivers may be still occurring or even accelerating, as evidenced by a recent study on the Lowermost Mississippi River. This study aims to investigate whether such a trend exists near the mouth of another large lowland alluvial river, the Atchafalaya River, which enters the Gulf of Mexico via two outlets — the natural mainstem and a man-made straight channel that is shorter and has a much greater slope. The overarching hypothesis is that, despite the reduction in riverine sediment delivery, lowland alluvial rivers such as the Lower Atchafalaya River in their backwater zone aggrade. We collected bathymetric survey records in 1977 and 2006 to analyze riverbed deformation. We utilized stage records at several gauging stations to determine the change in the hydraulic head over time. Geospatial techniques were used to develop channel bed Digital Elevation Models which were used to identify deformation of the 174-km channel bed of the Lower Atchafalaya River. We found a cumulative erosion of 6.34×107m3 and a cumulative deposition of 8.79×107m3, resulting in a net deposition of 2.45×107m3 during the study period. While much of the river including the man-made channel was in a degrading state, the last 35km of the river's natural mainstem experienced substantial aggradation. On average, riverbed elevation of the Lower Atchafalaya decreased by 1.47m in the upper 98km, but increased by 0.96m in the final 35km of the river's mainstem to the Gulf of Mexico. The channel erosion in the upstream reach will likely continue with the river discharge projected to increase, and the channel deposition in the downstream mainstem may accelerate because of sea-level rise.

The role of bed-penetrating Kelvin–Helmholtz vortices on local and instantaneous bedload sediment transport

We present results from open-channel, Euler–Lagrange (EL) simulations of turbulent flow over an erodible particle bed at a shear Reynolds number of$Re_{\tau }=180$. Upon space and time averaging, our simulations correctly reproduce the Wong & Parker (ASCE J. Hydraul. Engng, vol. 132, issue 11, 2006, pp. 1159–1168) bedload transport relation (WP). However, local and instantaneous sediment flux shows orders of magnitude scatter around the WP prediction. Visualization of the vortical structures using swirling strength shows the existence of bed-penetrating Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) vortex packets, which coupled with particle inertia are primarily responsible for the large scatter. The results also show that Euler–Euler (EE) simulations, where the individual sediment grains are not distinguished, are still able to reliably capture the turbulent shear stress variation, however, they do not capture the wide distribution of sediment flux indicative of saltating transport. The KH vortices induce non-zero streamwise and bed-normal velocities at the upper surface of the bed, which must be considered in EE simulations.

Fundamentals and Physical Principles for Drilled Cuttings Transport—Cuttings Bed Sedimentation and Erosion

The increasing necessity of challenging wellbore structures and drilling optimization for improved hole cuttings cleaning has been growing along time. As a result, operator companies have been researching and applying different hole cleaning techniques. Some of these are applied as traditional rules of thumb but are not always suitable for the new and up-coming challenges. This may result in inefficient hole cleaning, non-productive times, pipe stocking and low rate of penetration (ROP), among other problems. Here are presented some results and improvements for hole cleaning optimization obtained by the different research groups. The different authors mainly focus on specific cuttings transport parameters and sometimes combination of some of them. For this reason, there has not been a study that takes into account all of the different factors at the same time to accurately predict the cuttings bed height, formation and erosion, critical fluid velocity and properties and other key parameters. Consequently, there is a lack of understanding about the relation between different factors, such as the cohesiveness of the drilled cuttings with the different interstitial drilling fluids within the cuttings-bed. This relation can be analyzed establishing a wet-granular approach to obtain more efficient cuttings transport mechanism in challenging conditions.

Impact Force of a Geomorphic Dam-Break Wave against an Obstacle: Effects of Sediment Inertia

The evaluation of the impact force on structures due to a flood wave is of utmost importance for estimating physical damage and designing adequate countermeasures. The present study investigates, using 2D shallow-water approximation, the morphodynamics and forces caused by a dam-break wave against a rigid obstacle in the presence of an erodible bed. A widely used coupled equilibrium model, based on the two-dimensional Saint–Venant hydrodynamic equations combined with the sediment continuity Exner equation (SVEM), is compared with a more complex two-phase model (TPM). Considering an experimental set-up presented in the literature with a single rigid obstacle in a channel, two series of tests were performed, assuming sand or light sediments on the bottom. The former test is representative of a typical laboratory experiment, and the latter may be scaled up to a field case. For each test, two different particle diameters were considered. Independently from the particle size, it was found that in the sand tests, SVEM performs similarly to TPM. In the case of light sediment, larger differences are observed, and the SVEM predicts a higher force of about 26% for both considered diameters. The analysis of the flow fields and the morphodynamics shows these differences can be essentially ascribed to the role of inertia of the solid particles.

Hydraulic Characteristics of Submerged Flow In Non-Prismatic Stilling Basins.(Dept.C)

Recently, the non-prismatic stilling basins attracted many researchers due to their effective dissipation of excess energy. Radial stilling basins are characterizing with symmetric flow patterns that in turn minimize the expected damages of the erodible bed downstream the stilling basins. In this research, the submerged flow in radial stilling basin was provided with negative step and an end sill was analyzed both theoretically and experimentally. The effects of various parameters such as submergence, relative height of sill, relative height of step and inlet Froude number were presented and discussed. The experimental study is conducted on 30 cm wide, 45 cm deep and 12 m long open channel. The theoretical study utilized the one-dimensional momentum and continuity equations. The developed equations are verified using the obtained experimental data. Also, prediction models to estimate the length of jump are developed using the dimensional analysis and statistical methods. The models are calibrated and verified using the experimental data.