Rough Bed Surface Research Articles

Turbulence characteristics of non-spherical isolated particles with different flatness on a rough bed surface

The transport of non-spherical particles on bed is significantly influenced by flow dynamics and particle shape. To study the impact of changes in the flatness of isolated bed particles on the surrounding flow characteristics, we prefabricated three isovolumetric particles with varying levels of flatness and analyzed the flow field around them using two-dimensional particle image velocimetry measurement methods. The results show that the presence of the particles significantly alters the turbulence parameters of the surrounding flow. Specifically, the influence extends up to 1D upstream of the particles, 0.5D above the particle tops, and throughout most of the downstream region, where D represents the equivalent particle diameter. The particles cause a reduction in Reynolds stress and turbulent kinetic energy in the near-bed upstream region, with a more pronounced effect observed for particles with lower flatness. Increased particle flatness is associated with a smaller difference in the longitudinal time-averaged velocity between upstream and downstream regions. In the wake region, particle flatness shows a negative correlation with Reynolds stress, longitudinal turbulence intensity, and turbulent kinetic energy, with this effect being more pronounced closer to the particles. Quadrant analysis indicates that ejection (Q2) and sweep (Q4) quadrant events remain dominant in the presence of particles, while particle flatness positively correlates with the frequency of outward (Q1) and inward (Q3) events in the wake region and negatively correlates with the frequency of Q2 and Q4 events. This study enhances our understanding of particle-fluid interactions, particularly the response relationship between non-spherical particles and turbulent mechanisms.

Exploring coupling effects of rainfall and surface roughness on the sheet flow velocity

Accurately describing the path of sheet flow (SF) is crucial in soil erosion. Raindrop impact and underlying surface conditions can affect the SF velocity by changing the velocity profile. However, since this information is rarely known, the estimation of SF velocity is inaccurate. A series of upstream inflow and rainfall experiments were carried out on an impermeable flume to determine the coupling effects of rainfall and rough bed surfaces on the SF velocity and correction factor (α). The results showed that the roughness of the bed surface had a more pronounced effect on reducing the mean velocity compared to the surface velocity in both cases with and without raindrop impact. The raindrop impact notably reduced the flow velocity near the water surface, while the mean velocity slightly decreased or remained almost constant with increasing rainfall intensity. The reduction in SF velocity can be explained by the combined effects of the roughness reducing the mean velocity (up to 33.52%) and the raindrop impact reducing the surface velocity (up to 25.43%). In addition, α was not a constant when the SF was subjected to raindrop impact. The rainfall was found to increase α, while the roughness of the bed surface reduced α for all cases. Finally, a model was created to forecast α based on the ratio of water depth to roughness height, hydraulic slope, and rain Reynolds number. The results are valuable in soil erosion by providing accurate α for estimating the surface and mean velocities of SF.

Experiments on flow velocity profiles in mountain river channels

ABSTRACT Research on the vertical profiles of flow velocity in mountainous river channels is limited, particularly in scenarios where complex bed geometries are absent. Due to the coarse roughness and seepage flow on streambeds composed of gravel, the conventional formulae for flow velocity profiles derived from fluvial river channels do not apply to mountainous river channels. Based on flume experiments with a bed packed with natural gravel and a slope ranging from 0.006 to 0.16, we derived a theoretical formula for flow velocity profiles. This new formula integrates the influence of the subsurface flow and velocity reduction near the water surface, demonstrating a strong alignment with measurements. Our findings indicate that for shallow water flow over rough bed surfaces, the turbulence intensity diminishes along the vertical direction in the near-bed region while remaining relatively constant in the upper water body. Contrary to conventional theories which attribute the increase in flow resistance and the decrease in sediment transport rates in mountainous river channels to form drag, our study emphasizes that the subsurface flow plays a significant role in the overall flow resistance of mountainous river channels and should not be overlooked.

The Role of Coherent Airflow Structures on the Incipient Aeolian Entrainment of Coarse Particles

AbstractThe role of coherent airflow structures capable of setting gravel‐sized particles in motion is studied theoretically and experimentally. Specifically, a micromechanical model based on energy conservation is proposed to describe the incipient motion of large‐particles ranging from rocking (incomplete entrainment) to incipient rolling (full entrainment). Wind tunnel experiments were conducted on an aerodynamically rough bed surface under near‐threshold airflow conditions. Synchronous signals of airflow velocities upwind of the test particles and particle displacement are measured using a hot film anemometer and a laser distance sensor, respectively, from which coherent airflow structures (extracted via quadrant analysis) and particle movements are interlinked. It is suggested that the incipient motion of gravel‐sized particles (rocking and rolling) may result from sufficiently energetic sweep events corresponding to aerodynamic drag forces in excess of the local micro‐topography resistance. However, full entrainment in rolling mode should satisfy the presented work‐based criterion. Furthermore, using an appropriate probabilistic frame, the proposed criterion may be suitable for describing processes of energy transfer from the wind to the granular soil surface, ranging from the creep transport of gravels to the “mechanical sieving” of mega‐ripples, as well as the transport of light anthropogenic debris (such as plastics).

Experimental Investigations on the Response of Bedload Sediment to Vibration

Research results on sediment vibration characteristics are scarce, and knowledge on the effect of the particle size on the sediment vibration response is still limited. In this study, natural pebbles of different heights—A, B and C—were selected (hA < hB < hC). Miniature acceleration sensors were installed inside the pebble. Experimental methods were used to measure the vibration process of pebbles on the rough bed surface and to measure the near-bed velocities simultaneously. The test results show that the sequence of pebble vibration and entrainment is A-C-B as the flow rate increases. The vibration intensity of pebbles A and B tended to increase before approaching the entrainment threshold but weakened when approaching the entrainment threshold; the vibration frequency, on the contrary, first decreased and then increased. The vibration intensity of pebble C decreased first and then increased, and when approaching the entrainment threshold, it rolled directly. The vibration frequency first increased and then decreased, and near the entrainment threshold, there was no vibration. Thus, it was demonstrated that with the increase in pebble height, the average vibration intensity increases, and the average vibration frequency decreases. The results of this research provide a reference for exploring the dynamic mechanism of the bed load in mountain rivers.

Study the Affecting Factors on Free overfall Flow and Bed Roughness in Semi-Circular Channels by Artificial Neural Network

One of the significant problems facing the water resource engineer is calculating the coefficient of roughness for subsequent design calculations of the discharge amount of a channel or river. In this study, experiments were conducted in a semi-circular, straight channel to investigate the factors affecting bed roughness and flow discharge using Artificial Neural Network (ANN). For this purpose, three semi-circular channel models with free overfall were constructed and installed in a 6-meter-long laboratory flume. The length of these models was 2.50 m with three different diameters (D= 150, 187, and 237mm) and three bed slopes (S=0.004, 0.008, and 0.012). Three sand particle sizes (ds) were used for each semi-circular channel to roughen the bed. The results showed that the Manning roughness coefficient obtained using a rough bed surface was higher than the channel with a smooth bed surface. Also, the results revealed that the Manning roughness coefficient and the Froude number were inversely related. (ANN) analysis showed a good agreement between the experimental and predicted results of flow and roughness. The bring depth (yb) had an 85.8% impact percentage on the free overfall discharge for semi-circular channels, while the bottom slope (S) had only 1.1%.

Propagation, mixing, and turbulence characteristics of saline and turbidity currents over rough and permeable/impermeable beds

A series of constant-flux saline and turbidity current experiments were carried out, focusing on the coupling impact of bed roughness and permeability on current propagation, mixing, and turbulence characteristics. The distinct current propagation phases on RI (rough and impermeable) and RP (rough and permeable) beds are identified, respectively. Experimental results revealed that the intermittently undulating bed surface breaks the strict no-slip boundary, thus, increasing local current velocity near the bed, while its roughness reduces the current peak profile velocity. Interbed pores induced vertical fluid exchange, which synchronously decreases the current peak profile velocity and local velocity near the bed, causes the density profile to no longer follow a monotonous variation trend along with water depth. The larger bed surface roughness or the interbed porosity leads to the smaller upper TKE (turbulent kinetic energy) peak. The lower TKE peak is inversely proportional to the bed surface roughness of the RI beds, while it is proportional to the porosity of the RP bed. A rough bed surface intensifies the asymmetry of the mean velocity distribution around peak velocity resulting in a transfer barrier of turbulent momentum triggered by the interbed pores. On the RP bed, the cross-correlation function based on two-point statistics captures the spikes associated with pore-scale eddies locally, but under the RI condition, it only obtains the logical timescale characterizing the largest eddies of the current. The sediment deposition makes the turbidity current easier to separate from the RP and RI bed than the saline type, causing a consequence of growing the current height.

Comparative Study on the Machine Learning and Regression-Based Approaches to Predict the Hydraulic Jump Sequent Depth Ratio

The hydraulic jump phenomenon plays a significant role in dissipating the energy of the upstream current in either natural or artificial waterways. River’s bed roughness is defined as a key parameter that affects the characteristics of the hydraulic jump. In this study, a non-linear regression algorithm was developed to predict the sequent depth ratio of hydraulic jumps over a smooth and rough bed surface using the experimental hydraulic data extracted from the previous studies. Four popular machine learning techniques, known as adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), ANFIS-Particle Swarm Optimization (ANFIS-PSO), bayesian model averaging (BMA), least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), are applied to check the accuracy of the proposed algorithm. The dimensional analysis and Gamma Test model are used to select the effective parameters on the hydraulic jump. In this study, four major parameters named the roughness height (ks), hydraulic radius (R), velocity and Froude number at the upstream of the hydraulic jump control volume were selected as more effective parameters. To compare the performance of the models in prediction of both sequent hydraulic depths, the coefficient of determination, root mean square error (RMSE), mean error, Mean Absolute Error and Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) were calculated in both training and testing subsets. It is shown that the proposed model, along with two other non-linear methods, ANFIS and ANFIS-PSO, predicted the hydraulic jump sequent depth ratio more accurately compared to the linear regression techniques, BMA and LASSO. However, the statistical measures show an acceptable accuracy for the linear regression techniques. The results show that the proposed model increases the correlation between observed and predicted values up to 0.987 and decreases the RMSE to 0.324. Simultaneously, the last two linear techniques have RMSE, correlation coefficient 0.333 and 0.98, respectively. Finally, a new non-linear formula addressing the hydraulic jump sequent depth ratio over smooth and rough beds have been proposed. A comparison between the resulted formula of the present study with the previous studies proves the accuracy of the developed equation. Moreover, a dimensionless primary roughness coefficient is presented as a non-linear function of the roughness height (ks) and hydraulic radius (R) parameters.

Ice friction: Glacier sliding on hard randomly rough bed surface.

I present a theory for ice friction for ice sliding on a hard randomly rough surface which includes ice melting-freezing (regelation), viscoelastic energy dissipation, and cavitation. The theory is an extension of earlier work by Weertman, Lliboutry, Nye, and Kamb. I present numerical results for surfaces with realistic surface roughness power spectra. I consider both airfilled and (pressurized) waterfilled cavities. The calculated frictional shear stresses are consistent with experimental observations for temperate glaciers.

Velocity field and drag force measurements of a cube and a hemisphere mounted on an artificial bed surface roughness

Quantification of the resistance in complex roughness situations, when both bed surface and form roughnesses contribute to the total resistance, as well as partitioning of the two contributions is still unsolved. Studies about form resistance of single elements focused on obstacles mounted on smooth bed surfaces, and only few considered a rough bed surface. In order to define an approach for shear stress partitioning in open channel flows, the effect of flow conditions, the geometrical characteristics of the obstacle, and the effect of the bed surface need to be studied. This paper contributes to the topic presenting results of experiments investigating the flow field around a cube and a hemisphere mounted on a bed surface with wake interference roughness. The velocity field and the drag force exerted on the obstacles were measured with a 3D Laser Doppler Anemometer and a drag force sensor, respectively. The double averaging methodology (DAM) was applied to define the characteristic region influenced by the cube and the hemisphere, and to analyse the streamwise velocities. DAM was developed for canopy flow, thus, the methodology needed to be adapted for isolated obstacle situations. A dependency of the drag coefficient on the relative submergence is observed and analysed.

Effect of lateral bed roughness variation on particle suspension in open channels

In this paper the effect of variation of bed roughness along lateral direction on suspension concentration distribution in open channel turbulent flows was investigated. Starting from the mass and momentum conservation equations, this study demonstrates that both the Reynolds shear stress \((-\overline{u'v'})\) and sediment diffusivity depends on bed roughness. From the theoretical analysis, it is found that both the Reynolds shear stress and the sediment diffusivity increase over smooth bed surfaces and decrease over rough bed surfaces. At the junction of smooth and rough bed surface, the effect of bed roughness on the Reynolds shear stress and sediment diffusion is almost negligible. Including this effect, suspension concentration distribution is also studied and from the Hunt’s diffusion equation, an analytical model for predicting suspension concentration is proposed. Apart from this effect, the effects of moveable bed roughness and stratification are also considered in the model. It is observed that the Rouse equation is obtained from the proposed model as a special case when the flow is considered as single phase and there is no effect of secondary current, stratification and bed roughness variation. On the basis of experimental data available in literature, the proposed model is validated and also compared with the Rouse equation. To get a quantitative idea about the goodness of fit, weighted relative error is calculated. The comparison results and calculated errors indicate that the present model is capable of describing the suspension concentration distribution more accurately than Rouse model throughout the flow depth in open channel flow.

A finite volume difference scheme for a model of settling particle dispersion from an elevated source in an open-channel flow

A finite volume fitted difference scheme is constructed to solve the unsteady convective-diffusion equation transformed on a finite domain, modeling longitudinal dispersion of suspended particles with settling velocity in a turbulent shear flow over a rough-bed surface. First we discuss the well-posedness of the differential problem and the non-negativity of its solution. Then, to overcome the degeneracy at the part of the boundary, starting from the divergent form of the equation we perform a local fitted space discretization. This approximation is determined by a set of two-point boundary value problems. Non-negativity of the numerical concentration of suspended fine particles is proved. Some results from computational experiments are presented to illustrate the properties of the constructed scheme.

Dispersion of fine settling particles from an elevated source in an oscillatory turbulent flow

The present paper examines the stream-wise dispersion of suspended fine particles with settling velocities in an oscillatory turbulent shear flow with or without a non-zero mean over a rough-bed surface when the particles are being released from an elevated continuous source. A finite-difference implicit method is employed to solve the unsteady turbulent convective-diffusion equation. A combined scheme of central and four-point upwind differences is used to solve the steady state equation and the Alternating Direction Implicit (ADI) method is adopted for unsteady equation. It is shown how the mixing of settling particles is influenced by the tidal oscillatory current and the corresponding eddy diffusivity when the initial distribution of concentration regarded as a line-source. The vertical concentration profiles of suspended fine particles with settling velocities are presented for different downstream stations for various values of settling velocity and the frequency of the oscillation in tidal flow. For two-dimensional unsteady dispersion equation, the behaviour of iso-concentration lines for different values of settling velocity, frequency of the oscillation, dispersion time and releasing height is studied in terms of the relative importance of convection and eddy diffusion.

On dispersion of settling particles from an elevated source in an open-channel flow

Longitudinal dispersion of suspended particles with settling velocity in a turbulent shear flow over a rough-bed surface is investigated numerically when the settling particles are released from an elevated continuous line-source. A combined scheme of central and four-point upwind differences is used to solve the steady turbulent convection–diffusion equation and the alternating direction implicit (ADI) method is adopted for the unsteady equation. It is shown how the mixing of settling particles is influenced by the ‘log-wake law’ velocity and the corresponding eddy diffusivity when the initial distribution of concentration is regarded as a line-source. The concentration profiles for the steady-state conditions agree well with the existing experimental data and some other numerical results when the settling velocity is zero. The behaviours of iso-concentration lines in the vertical plane for different releasing heights are studied in terms of the relative importance of convection, eddy diffusion and settling velocity.

TURBULENT CHARACTERISTICS OF SHALLOW FLOW OVER ROUGH SURFACE WITH REGULARLY ARRAYED SPHERES

Turbulent nature of near-bed flow field was investigated in an open channel over a rough-bed artificially arrayed with glass beads, where ratios of the glass diameter to flow depth are 03, 0.5 and 0.8. Detailed spatial measurements of streamwise and vertical velocity fluctuations were made using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) in a vertical plane along the completely rough bed surface. Results indicated significant degrees of spatially regular variation in the time-averaged velocities, in which the upflow generated over upper region of roughness top is about 8% of the cross sectional average velocity, much stronger than the downflow. In addition, Reynolds shear stress and turbulent intensity showed minimum values at the ridge of roughness elements and maximum ones at the trough. These organized flow structure were suggested to be due to the vortex shedding brought about by the roughness elements.

Reduced Tillage Tomato/Wheat Rotations in California's Central Valley

Two field comparisons of conservation tillage tomato production alternatives following wheat were conducted in California's Central Valley. Both studies compared: 1) standard tillage; 2) bed disk or permanent bed minimum tillage; and 3) strip-tillage following winter wheat crops that were harvested the previous June. Processing tomatoes were produced at the site in Davis, Calif., and fresh market tomatoes were grown in Parlier, Calif. At both sites, establishing tomatoes using a commercial transplanter or a modified conservation tillage transplanter achieved adequate stands even in the minimally-tilled strip-till system. Timing of the strip till operation, however, is critical so that large chuncks of dry soil are not brought up and so that these do not create very rough bed surfaces that may cause harvest problems, particularly for processing tomatoes. Machine harvesting the crop at the Davis site did not seem to create any mechanical difficulties or generate additional trash going into the harvest trailer. This may have been due to the fact that by harvest time, the majority of the surface residue from the previous wheat crop had already been broken down or at least sufficiently worked into the soil to pose minimal mechanical harvester impedance or contamination. Tomato yields for the reduced till systems equalled yields of the standard till systems at both sites.

Distribution of Bed Shear Stress in Rotating Circular Flume

Distributions of bed shear stress across the width of a rotating circular flume with smooth and rough bed surfaces were obtained by measurement and model prediction. Results with flows over smooth beds showed that the flow in the central part may be considered to be two-dimensional and that effects of flow depth over the operating range of the flume are minor for flow depths not exceeding 0.14 m. For rough beds, the bed shear stress distributions were found to be skewed toward the inner wall. This can be corrected if a compensating roughness is added to the bottom of the ring. Such measures are also effective for flumes with smooth beds. Measured bed shear stress distributions agreed well with the predicted distributions for smooth beds and reasonably well for rough beds. The modified Preston tube, for measurement of bed shear stress in flows over rough beds, was found to give promising results. Further tests are required to completely define the uncertainty in bed shear stress measurements made with this instrument.

Patterns and processes of sediment sorting in gravel-bed rivers

Sedimentological studies of coarse-grained alluvial rivers reveal patterns of bed material sorting at a variety of spatial scales ranging from downstream fining over the length of the long profile to the vertical segregation of a coarse surface layer at the scale of individual particles. This article reviews the mechanisms that sort bed material by size during sediment entrainment, transport and deposition and discusses some of the inter-relationships that exist between patterns and processes of sediment sorting at different spatial and temporal scales. At initiation of motion, sorting can arise from the preferential entrainment of the finer fractions from the heterogeneous bed sediments. Bedload grain-size distributions are modified during transport as different size fractions are routed along different transport pathways under the influence of nonuniform bed topography and associated flow patterns, and during deposition as the variable pocket geometry of the rough bed surface and turbulence intensity of the flow control the size of the particles that deposit. The review highlights the poor understanding of the many feedback linkages that exist between patterns and processes of sediment sorting at different scales and the need for a greater awareness of the spatial and temporal bounds of these linkages.