Prediction Of Transport Rates Research Articles

Monitoring Preferential Flow of Water in Sand Using Thermoacoustics Wave Imaging

AbstractAccurate predictions of fluid flow, mass transport, and reaction rates critically impact the efficiency and reliability of subsurface exploration and sustainable use of subsurface resources. Quantitative dynamical sensing and imaging can play a pivotal role in the ability to make such predictions. Geophysical thermoacoustic technology has the potential to provide the aforementioned capabilities, since it builds upon the principle that electromagnetic and mechanical wave fields can be coupled through a thermodynamic process. In this letter, we present laboratory experiments featuring the efficacy of thermoacoustic imaging in the monitoring of preferential flow of water in porous media. Our laboratory experimental equipment can be readily packaged in a form factor that fits in a borehole, and the use of multiple acoustic transducers—which can be combined with volumetric coding techniques—has the potential to provide quasi‐real‐time imaging (0.5 Hz video rate) of regions in close proximity (a few meters) of an open field well.

The importance of grain‐related shear velocity in predicting multi‐monthly dune growth

AbstractThis study assesses the accuracy of the aeolian transport model proposed by van Rijn and Strypsteen in 2020 in predicting sediment transport rates for dune growth, with a focus on the importance of grain‐related shear velocity. A 9‐month dataset of local and regional wind characteristics and dune growth from a new artificial dune with planted marram grass in an environment with minor supply limitations was analysed. The study site is located in Oosteroever, Belgium. The results revealed that utilizing local measured overall shear velocities resulted in significant overprediction of dune volume changes. Incorporating sub‐models for grain‐related bed roughness and shear velocity improved the predictions of dune growth drastically with high statistical results (r2 = 0.98 and RMSE = 0.64 m3/m). The primary driver contributing to dune growth at the study site was due to oblique onshore moderate winds of 10 m/s, as revealed from a frequency‐magnitude analysis. The model could be used with either local wind measurements or regional data transformed to local beach conditions. The study highlights the importance of considering grain‐related shear velocity in future studies to improve the prediction of sand transport rates and enhance our understanding of dune evolution.

Developing a numerical model for sediment transport in channel network by considering multigrade bed load sediment

ABSTRACT Predicting transport rates is difficult for the morphological features of marine, river, and coastal ecosystems. To design a model bed load sediment transport rate along with the surface layer, a mesh-based numerical method is used, and for the sediment transport the governing equations are employed and depth-averaged is used to create open channel flow and in three-dimensional horizontal space the evaluation is performed. By utilizing the governing equations, the open channel flow discretization and the numerical hydrodynamic model of sediment transport rate are calculated, and in the flow channel by using the solution method the settling velocity is determined. The complex issues involved nonlinear equations for the numerical modelling with solution methodology. The chicken swarm optimization algorithm is revealed by multi-objective metaheuristics optimization, and a better outcome is acquired by optimization. Finally, if polygonal mesh modelling is used in the diversion flow channel and curved bend channel, several experimental models were employed in the model experiments. A numerical measured and improved model is used to estimate the results in comparison, and the optimally developed model forecast rates with accuracy. In some open-channel flows such as reservoirs and rivers, the struggling flow and bed load sediment transport were dealt with in this model. Based on the results obtained, the proposed technique demonstrates significant improvements in both accuracy and prediction performance compared to the existing techniques. The proposed technique achieves an accuracy of 96.87%, outperforming the BCNN technique with an accuracy of 89.77% and the H-ANN-FA technique with an accuracy of 84.65%. Moreover, the proposed technique exhibits a lower RMSE value of 0.12, indicating a substantial reduction in the average deviation between predicted and observed values. Based on the NSE and R2 results, the proposed technique demonstrates remarkable improvements in prediction accuracy compared to the other techniques. The proposed technique achieves an NSE value of 0.998 and R2 value of 0.99, compared to the existing technique with an improvement of 46.47% and 11.24%.

Development of a machine learning model for river bed load

Abstract. Prediction of bed load sediment transport rates in rivers is a notoriously difficult problem due to inherent variability in river hydraulics and channel morphology. Machine learning (ML) offers a compelling approach to leverage the growing wealth of bed load transport observations towards the development of a data-driven predictive model. We present an artificial neural network (ANN) model for predicting bed load transport rates informed by 8117 measurements from 134 rivers. Inputs to the model were river discharge, flow width, bed slope, and four bed surface sediment sizes. A sensitivity analysis showed that all inputs to the ANN model contributed to a reasonable estimate of bed load flux. At individual sites, the ANN model was able to reproduce observed sediment rating curves with a variety of shapes without site-specific calibration. This ANN model has the potential to be broadly applied to predict bed load fluxes based on discharge and reach properties alone.

Confinement width and inflow-to-sediment discharge ratio control the morphology and braiding intensity of submarine channels: insights from physical experiments and reduced-complexity models

Abstract. Submarine channels conveying sediment gravity flows are often topographically confined, but the effect of confinement width on channel morphodynamics is incompletely understood. We use physical experiments and a reduced-complexity model to investigate the effects of confinement width (B) and the inflow-to-sediment discharge ratio (Qin/Qs) on the evolution of submarine braided channels. The results show that a larger confinement width results in increased active braiding intensity (BIA) and that BIA takes longer to stabilize (i.e., a longer critical time; tc). At a fixed confinement width, a higher Qin/Qs slightly decreases the BIA. Digital elevation models of difference (DoD) of the experiments allow measurement of the morphological active width (Wa) of the submarine channels and the bulk morphological change (Vbulk) within an experiment, defined as the sum of total erosion and deposition. We find that Wa and Vbulk are proportional to B. We further confirm that BIA is proportional to both dimensionless sediment–stream power (ω**) and dimensionless stream power (ω*). These trends are consistent for submarine braided channels both with and without confinement width effects. Furthermore, we built a reduced-complexity model (RCM) that can simulate flow bifurcation and confluence of submarine braided channels. The simulated flow distribution provides reliable predictions of flow depth and sediment transport rate in the experiments. Using kernel density estimation (KDE) to forecast the probability and trends of cross-sectional flow distribution and corresponding BIA under extreme events, we find that skewness of the flow distribution decreases as discharge increases. The development of braided submarine channels, shown here to extend to conditions of topographic confinement, suggests that factors not modeled here (e.g., fine sediment) may be necessary to explain the abundance of single-thread submarine channels in nature.

Bed shear stress and sediment transport equations for predicting morphological and shoreline changes: a review

Coastal sediments can be transported as bedload and suspended-load transport by waves and currents. The waves stir up the sediments, then currents transport sediments. Waves on the bottom can generate bed-shear stress. Meanwhile, the combination of bedload and suspended-load transport is known as total sediment transport. Prediction of total sediment transport has become important related to coastal morphological change and also shoreline change. Most of the sediment transport equations and approaches are developed from the physical principles. There are so many researchers proposed some formulas and methods with some considerations and difficulties. Due to the complexity of coastal conditions, the existing sediment transport rate prediction formulas are still not finished yet. Several well-known equations of bed-shear stress, bedload-suspended transport, and cross shore-longshore sediment transport; are discussed and reviewed in the present study. Thus, an overview of approaches and formulations that are reliable and nearly accurate for calculating the total sediment transport rate based on the characteristics of each coastal waters will be obtained. Accurate estimation of sediment transport rates will provide good results for predicting and monitoring changes in coastal morphology and shoreline changes. Moreover, coastal monitoring can be used for actions related to coastal protection system and coastal management.

Anomalous Scaling of Aeolian Sand Transport Reveals Coupling to Bed Rheology

Predicting transport rates of windblown sand is a central problem in aeolian research, with implications for climate, environmental, and planetary sciences. Though studied since the 1930s, the underlying many-body dynamics is still incompletely understood, as underscored by the recent empirical discovery of an unexpected third-root scaling in the particle-fluid density ratio. Here, by means of grain-scale simulations and analytical modeling, we elucidate how a complex coupling between grain-bed collisions and granular creep within the sand bed yields a dilatancy-enhanced bed erodibility. Our minimal saltation model robustly predicts both the observed scaling and a new undersaturated steady transport state that we confirm by simulations for rarefied atmospheres.

Prediction of flow and sediment transport rates into closed-end channels for turbidity current intrusion

Turbidity current intrusion often occurs in canals, approach channels and tributary areas of large reservoirs, causing sedimentation problems in these environments. Many models and semi-empirical equations have been proposed to calculate flow and sediment transport rates for turbidity current intrusion, under an assumption that the current front can keep propagating freely in the channel before dying out, but the effect of the finite length of closed-end channels has rarely been considered. A self-similar solution to the vertical two-dimensional model for turbidity currents is used to obtain the equation of the maximum possible length for the intrusion of turbidity currents. The maximum possible length is then used to modify an existing discharge equation for turbidity current intrusion in long channels and establish a more general calculation method that can be applied for intrusion in closed end channels. Data from two existing flume experiments are used to calibrate the derived equation of sediment transport rate for turbidity current intrusion. Field measurements obtained from several tributary mouths in the Xiaolangdi Reservoir are also used to calibrate the derived intrusion discharge equation. The agreement between predictions and observations, as well as the comparison between the proposed calculation method and the one before modification, demonstrate that the intrusion discharge is not only determined by the depth of turbid water and sediment concentration at the inlet of the tributary channel, but also influenced by the ratio of the real intrusion length to the maximum possible intrusion length.

Surf Zone Turbulence and Suspended Sediment Dynamics—A Review

The existence of sandy beaches relies on the onshore transport of sand by waves during post-storm conditions. Most operational sediment transport models employ wave-averaged terms, and/or the instantaneous cross-shore velocity signal, but the models often fail in predictions of the onshore-directed transport rates. An important reason is that they rarely consider the phase relationships between wave orbital velocity and the suspended sediment concentration. This relationship depends on the intra-wave structure of the bed shear stress and hence on the timing and magnitude of turbulence production in the water column. This paper provides an up-to-date review of recent experimental advances on intra-wave turbulence characteristics, sediment mobilization, and suspended sediment transport in laboratory and natural surf zones. Experimental results generally show that peaks in the suspended sediment concentration are shifted forward on the wave phase with increasing turbulence levels and instantaneous near-bed sediment concentration scales with instantaneous turbulent kinetic energy. The magnitude and intra-wave phase of turbulence production and sediment concentration are shown to depend on wave (breaker) type, seabed configuration, and relative wave height, which opens up the possibility of more robust predictions of transport rates for different wave and beach conditions.

Detailed bed topography and sediment load measurements for two stepdown flows in a laboratory flume

Streams and rivers, particularly smaller ones, often do not maintain steady flow rates for long enough to reach equilibrium conditions for sediment transport and bed topography. In particular, streams in small watersheds may be subject to rapidly changing hydrographs, and relict bedforms from previous high flows can cause further disequilibrium that complicates the prediction of sediment transport rates. In order to advance the understanding of how bedforms respond to rapid changes in flow rate, a series of flume experiments were performed where the flow was reduced rapidly from equilibrium conditions. Sediment transport rates and bed elevation data across the flume and over a 15-meter-long test section were collected during the experiments to allow detailed examination of evolving bedform dynamics. It was found that relict bedforms stopped moving completely after flow reductions, and the mode of sediment transport was shifted to small bedforms that arose rapidly over dune stoss sections throughout the test section. The changes in sediment transport with time as the sand bed adjusted to the new flow rate was found to agree with predictions based on the relations proposed in Wren et al. (2020). Wavelet analysis is used to visualize changes in length and amplitude scales during the bed transition process.

Shoreline Change Prediction for Integrated Coastal Erosion Management

Kim, Y.-J.; Kim, T.-W.; Yoon, J.-S.; Hur, D.-S, and Kim, M.-K., 2021. Shoreline change prediction for integrated coastal erosion management. In: Lee, J.L.; Suh, K.-S.; Lee, B.; Shin, S., and Lee, J. (eds.), Crisis and Integrated Management for Coastal and Marine Safety. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 114, pp. 121–125. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The mechanism of sediment transport occurring in littoral zone shows complex patterns. Establishing an accurate longshore sediment budget prediction is difficult. Littoral drift flowing into and out of the coast shows sensitive responses to natural and anthropogenic changes in the surrounding area. In particular, at the coast where rivers are located, the littoral drift is significantly affected by the inflow of sediment from the upstream. However, the sediment management at the coast has been conducted by respective measures established in different areas, such as mountains in the upstream region, dams, rivers, and coasts, and thus, measures are established without an appropriate feedback between these different areas. Therefore, determining the exact causes of erosion occurring in the coastal zone is challenging. In addition, for accurate prediction of sediment budget in coastal areas, it is necessary to construct a model with mixed particle size distribution that can consider the properties of sediment inflow from the river and the sediment constituting the sea area. Thus, for integrated coastal erosion management, based on the determination of sediment transport mechanism flowing into the coastal zone, accurate estimation of sediment transport rate and sediment budget prediction according to the shoreline changes affected by waves play an important role. In this study, a series of mechanism of sediment transport flowing into the sea area through the river was analyzed, and the sediment budget according to the shoreline change occurring in the sea area was estimated. The sediment load flowing into the sea area and the representative wave acting on the sea area were calculated to construct the IN-MPS (INje-Mixture Particle Shoreline) model considering the sediment particle size distribution in mixed condition. The accuracy of the model was evaluated by comparing the results obtained from the model with those of long-term observations by calculating the exact sediment budget in the coastal zone, and when the inflow from the river and the mixed particle size distribution of sediment were considered, the accuracy in the shoreline change prediction was improved.

Reducing aeolian sand transport and beach erosion by using armour layer of coarse materials

A man-made dune-beach-spit system at the south-east side of the island of Texel (Prins Hendrik site) has been built in 2018–2019 to strengthen the traditional dike. The core of the dune-beach-spit system consists of medium fine sand with a d50 of 0.25–0.3 mm. The beach is covered with an armour (protection) layer of coarse materials with relatively large gravel and shell fractions to reduce wind erosion and thus maintenance costs. In the design phase of the project the aeolian sand transport model of Bagnold was used to estimate the long-term erosion losses of sand at the new dune-beach system. This transport model was validated in the design phase by using detailed sand transport and bed roughness measurements at a nearby site called The Hors. This site is a wide natural beach plain of sand (d50 = 0.23 mm), where 147 high-quality datasets have been collected using a wind mast equipped with 5 cup anemometers and various sand traps. It is shown that the measured sand transport rates at the Hors can be reasonably well represented by the modified Bagnold-equation for dry sand. After completion of the new dune-beach system, a field experiment was performed at the Prins Hendrik site to verify the sediment transport predictions and erosion loss of sand. Data from two permanent wind masts and one short, mobile wind mast were used to derive the effective roughness of (stationary) bed forms. Sand transport rates were measured at various locations using a new trap sampler. The measured sediment transport in the armoured beach zone can be reasonably well represented by the Bagnold-equation using a multi-fraction approach with hiding-exposure coefficient. The predicted transport rates have been used to estimate the annual loss of sand from the Prins-Hendrik site.

Graded bed load transport in sediment supply limited channels under unsteady flow hydrographs

Natural river channels that are sediment supply limited due to upstream water management practices and/or flow regulation are often subject to in-channel bed degradation and bed surface restructuring during natural flood hydrographs or controlled flow releases from upstream dams. The heterogeneity of sediment sizes present in these channels means that different size classes are transported more actively during different parts of the hydrograph. A series of laboratory experiments is conducted to investigate the in-channel response of a graded sediment bed to a range of design flow hydrographs when no sediment is supplied at the upstream boundary. The results show varying temporal lag and bed load transport hysteresis for different transported fractions, defined by fine, medium and coarse size classes in the graded sediment mixture. The coarse size class typically exhibits clockwise hysteresis, indicating more active transport during the rising hydrograph limb, whereas the fine size class demonstrates either no/mixed or counterclockwise hysteresis, as it becomes more active during the falling limb. On this separate limb basis, predictions of fractional bed load transport rates are improved by calculating unique reference threshold shear stresses for each size class at the initiation and cessation of fractional grain motions on the rising and falling limbs, respectively. Corresponding temporal variations in the bed load median grain size vary depending on the hydrograph total water work and unsteadiness, with peak values generally attained during the rising limb and overall bed load fining observed during the falling limb. Analysis of the three size classes also indicates that the medium-coarse and fine fractions are transported in larger relative proportions during smaller magnitude, more flashy hydrographs and larger magnitude, flatter hydrographs, respectively. The resulting armouring of the post-hydrograph bed surface layer is most significant at the upstream end of the channel and decreases exponentially in the downstream direction. Two empirical models, based on combined hydrograph and bed sediment descriptors, are also shown to predict reasonably well the overall bed load yields generated under different flow hydrographs from the satisfactory collapse of the current experimental data and previous datasets for both uniform and graded bed sediments. These bed load yields provide an empirical means to describe the extent of upstream bed armouring and the downstream fining of the bed surface layer after the passage of individual hydrographs.

RANS MODELLING OF CROSS-SHORE SEDIMENT TRANSPORT AND MORPHODYNAMICS IN THE SWASH-ZONE

Most numerical studies of sediment transport in the swash zone use depth-averaged models. However, such models still have difficulty predicting transport rates and morphodynamics. Depth-resolving models could give detailed insight in swash processes but have mostly been limited to hydrodynamic predictions. We present a depth-resolving numerical model, based on the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations, capable of modelling sediment transport and morphodynamics in the swash zone.Recorded Presentation from the vICCE (YouTube Link): https://youtu.be/PB8Vs0LJq88

Bedload transport rate prediction: Application of novel hybrid data mining techniques

The accurate prediction of bedload transport in gravel-bed rivers remains a significant challenge in river science. However the potential for data mining algorithms to provide models of bedload transport have yet to be explored. This study provides the first quantification of the predictive power of a range of standalone and hybrid data mining models. Using bedload transport data collected in laboratory flume experiments, the performance of four types of recently developed standalone data mining techniques - the M5P, random tree (RT), random forest (RF) and the reduced error pruning tree (REPT) - are assessed, along with four types of hybrid algorithms trained with a Bagging (BA) data mining algorithm (BA-M5P, BA-RF, BA-RT and BA-REPT). The main findings are four-fold. First, the BA-M5P model had the highest prediction power (R2 = 0.943; RMSE = 0.061 kg m−1 s−1; MAE = 0.040 kg m−1 s−1; NSE = 0.945; PBIAS = −1.60) followed by M5P, BA-RT, RT, BA-RF, RF, BA-REPT, and REPT. All models displayed ‘very good’ performance except the BA-REPT and REPT model, which were ‘satisfactory’. Second, the M5P, BA-RT, and RT models underestimated, and the BA-M5P, BA-RF, RF, BA-REPT and REPT models overestimated, bedload transport rates. Third, flow velocity had the most significant impact on bedload transport rate (PCC = 0.760) followed by shear stress (PCC = 0.709), discharge (PCC = 0.668), bed shear velocity (PCC = 0.663), bed slope (PCC = 0.490), flow depth (PCC = 0.303), median sediment diameter (PCC = 0.247), and relative roughness (PCC = 0.003). Fourth, the maximum depth of tree was the most sensitive operator in decision tree-based algorithms, and batch size, number of execution slots and number of decimal places did not have any impact on model’ prediction power. Overall the results revealed that hybrid data mining techniques provide more accurate predictions of bedload transport rate than standalone data mining models. In particular, M5P models, trained with a Bagging data mining algorithm, have great potential to produce robust predictions of bedload transport in gravel-bed rivers.

A review of Ackers and White sediment transport predictor

A sediment transport predictor based on a review and update of the theory of Ackers and White is proposed. While the core of the Ackers and White theory was retained, the approach to predicting transport rates was updated by introducing some new ideas and modified where opportunities for improvement were identified. A large dataset compiled from the existing literature was used for model calibration and validation. The results showed a good improvement compared with the original Ackers and White equation and some other total load predictors. Better matching with observed data was achieved especially at higher slopes (above 1%) and low submergence ratios (below 50) as well as at the extremes of the sediment size scale, where the applicability was extended to the coarse silt region. Predictions for gravel and coarser sediment were also improved.

Relevance of formation conditions to the size, morphology and local structure of intrinsic plutonium colloids

Fundamental knowledge about plutonium intrinsic colloids is a key issue for the prediction of plutonium transport and release rates in the environment.

Adaption of a formula for simulating bedload transport in the Nile River, Egypt

Bedload transport discharge is important in river engineering and morphodynamics. The Meyer-Peter and Muller (MPM) equation for determining bedload transport rates that was introduced in 1948 is still widely used in basic and applied engineering practise. An employment of the MPM equation for sand bed rivers is rarely observed as it usually performs well for gravel-bed rivers. The MPM equation was improved by introducing a correction factor considering the effects of the bedform and sediment mixture. Field measurements of bedload transport rates at 64 cross sections of different sites along the Nile River in Egypt were collected and employed to enhance the prediction of bedload transport rates based on the MPM formula. Furthermore, independent laboratory experiments were executed in a straight sand bed flume to verify the modified form of the MPM equation and to extend its application range. The MPM equation was improved by introducing a correction factor considering the effects of the bedform and sediment mixture. The accuracy of several sediment transport formulas (Meyer-Peter and Muller 1948; Frijlink 1952; Wong and Parker J Hydraul Eng 132:1159–1168, 2006; van Rijn 1984; modified Abdel-Fattah 2004; Huang Water Resour Res 46 W09533, 2010) was also evaluated using cumulative field measurements. Results suggest that the modified MPM equation is more suitable for the Nile River conditions than are the other tested equations. The study results indicate that the modified MPM equation can predict the bedload transport rates under the Nile River conditions with high accuracy.

Prediction of sediment transport rates in gravel-bed rivers using Gaussian process regression

AbstractEstimating sediment transport rate in rivers has high importance due to the difficulties and costs associated with its measurement, which has drawn the attention of experts in water engineering. In this study, Gaussian process regression (GPR) is applied to predict the sediment transport rate for 19 gravel-bed rivers in the United States. To compare the performance of GPR, the support vector machine (SVM) as a common type of kernel-based models was developed. Model inputs of sediment transport were prepared based on two scenarios: the first scenario considers only hydraulic characteristics and the second scenario was formed using hydraulic and sediment properties. Obtained results revealed that the GPR models present better performance compared to the SVM models and other empirical sediment transport formulas. Also, it was found that incorporating the second scenario as input led to better predictions. In addition, performing sensitivity analysis showed that the ratio of average velocity to shear flow velocity is the most effective parameter in predicting the sediment transport rate of gravel-bed rivers.

Transport in Hamiltonian systems with slowly changing phase space structure

Transport in Hamiltonian systems with weak chaotic perturbations has been much studied in the past. In this paper, we introduce a new class of problems: transport in Hamiltonian systems with slowly changing phase space structure that are not order one perturbations of a given Hamiltonian. This class of problems is very important for many applications, for instance in celestial mechanics. As an example, we study a class of one-dimensional Hamiltonians that depend explicitly on time and on stochastic external parameters. The variations of the external parameters are responsible for a distortion of the phase space structures: chaotic, weakly chaotic and regular sets change with time. We show that theoretical predictions of transport rates can be made in the limit where the variations of the stochastic parameters are very slow compared to the Hamiltonian dynamics. Exact asymptotic results can be obtained in the one-dimensional case where the Hamiltonian dynamics is integrable for fixed values of the parameters. For the more interesting chaotic Hamiltonian dynamics case, we show that two mechanisms contribute to the transport. For some range of the parameter variations, one mechanism -called ”transport by migration with the mixing regions” - is dominant. We are then able to model transport in phase space by a Markov model, the local diffusion model, and to give reasonably good transport estimates.