Numerical Analysis of Adaptation-to-capacity Length for Fluvial Sediment Transport

Over the last several decades,various sediment transport capacity formulations have been used by geomorphologists and engineers to calculate fluvial morphological changes.However,it remains poorly understood if the adaptation to capacity could be fulfilled instantly in response to differing inflow discharges and sediment supplies,and thus if the calculation of morphological changes in rivers based on the assumed capacity status is fully justified.Here we present a numerical investigation on this issue.The distance required for sediment transport to adapt to capacity(i.e.,adaptation-to-capacity length) of both bed load and suspended sediment transport is computationally studied using a coupled shallow water hydrodynamic model,in line with varied inlet sediment concentrations.It is found that the adaptation-to-capacity length generally decreases as the Rouse number increases,irrespective of whether the inlet sediment concentration increases or reduces.For cases with vanishing inlet sediment concentration a unified relationship is found between the adaptation-to-capacity length and the Rouse number.Quantitatively,the adaptation-to-capacity length of bed load sediment is limited to tens of times of the flow depth,whilst that of suspended sediment increases substantially with decreasing Rouse number and can be up to hundreds of times of the flow depth.The present finding concurs that bed load sediment transport can adapt to capacity much more rapidly than suspended sediment transport,and it facilitates a quantitative criterion on which the applicability of bed load or suspended sediment transport capacity for natural rivers can be readily assessed.

Non-capacity transport of non-uniform bed load sediment in alluvial rivers

Rivers often witness non-uniform bed load sedim ent transport. For a long tim e, non-uniform bed load transport has been assum ed to be at capacity regime determined exclusively by local flow. Yet whether the capacity assumption for non-uniform bed load transport is justified remains poorly understood. Here, the relative time scale of non-uniform bed load transport is evaluated and non-capacity and capacity models are compared for both aggradation and degradation cases with observed data. As characterized by its relative time scale, the adaptation of non-uniform bed load to capacity regime should be fulfilled quickly. However, changes in the flow and sedim ent inputs from upstream or tributaries hinder the adaptation. Also, the adaptation to capacity regime is size dependent, the finer the sediment size the slower the adaptation is, and vice versa. It is shown that the capacity model may entail considerable errors compared to the non-capacity model. For modelling of non-uniform bed load, non-capacity modelling is recommended, in which the temporal and spatial scales required for adaptation are explicitly appreciated.

Effects of sediment characteristics on the sediment transport capacity of overland flow

The transport of sediments is a crucial part of soil erosion.Accurately calculating the sediment transport capacity is key to the construction of soil erosion process models.Research on Tc has focused mainly on the dynamics of a single particle of sediment and hydraulic variables.There have been few studies of the impact of soil aggregates on the Tc.To clarify how sediment characteristics,including those for single particles and aggregates,affect the Tc of overland flow with no raindrop import,flume experiments were implemented at slope gradients varying from 5.24%to 26.80%and flow discharges ranging from 0.68 to 5.41×10^(-3)m^(2)s^(-1).The experimental materials were five typical soils in China.The results indicated that the correlation between the measured Tc and sediment mechanical composition indexes of the five soils was indistinctive in this study.The sediment settling velocity with aggregates has a significant corre-lation with the measured Tc.New equations,including for the sediment settling velocity with aggregatesωud75,were established to calculate the Tc.The empirical equation that includedωud75,slope gradient and unit discharge performed greatly in predicting Tc(R^(2)=0.93,NSE=0.90).ωud75 can effectively improve the calculation accuracy of Tc.The new equation including flow and sediment properties obtained through dimensional analysis performed well in predicting Tc(R^(2)=0.99,NSE=0.91),and the calculation accuracy was better than that of the empirical model derived in this study.These findings indicate that the sediment settling velocity is an important variable in the equation for predicting sediment transport capacity of overland flow.

An approach to estimating sediment transport capacity of overland flow

Estimating sediment transport capacity of overland flow is essential to the development of physically based soil erosion models.Correlation analysis indicates that stream power is a dominant factor for sediment transport in overland flows and a new sediment transport capacity equation is proposed based on dimensional analysis.The coefficients of the new equation are calibrated using the published laboratory data,and rainfall impact is taken into consideration by adding an empirical factor on the dimensionless critical stream power.The new sediment transport capacity equation is a function of stream power,rainfall impacted critical stream power and slope.The new equation is applied in a one-dimensional soil erosion model to simulate field data of a runoff plot and the simulation results are reliable.

Can the narrowing of the Lower Yellow River by regulation result in non-siltation and even channel scouring？

This study considered whether the narrowing of the upper （broad and wandering） reaches of the Lower Yellow River could result in a reduction in sedimentation and even an increase in channel erosion in both the upper and the lower （narrow and meandering） reaches. Analysis of field data and numerical modeling results both justify the proposal to narrow the channel. A positive correlation was found between channel eroded-area and the channel width. Therefore narrowing under conditions of low flow will reduce the amount of erosion in the reach, which, in turn, will reduce the amount of sediment transported into the lower channel. This will reduce the amount of siltation in the lower reaches of the river. However, narrowing under conditions of high flow with a low concentration of sediment will reduce both the extent of flood attenuation along the narrowed channel and the amount of lateral channel bank collapse, which results in increased flows and less sedimentation in the lower channel, leading to increased erosion. When flows with a high concentration of sediment are released from the Xiaolangdi Reservoir, both the lower narrow channel and the upper channel can transport a large amount of the sediment load. It is concluded that the narrowing of the upper broad channel will result in a reduction in sedimentation, or even in channel erosion, in both the upper and the lower channels if the reservoir is operated such that the volume of sediment added during low flows is balanced by the volume eroded during high flows with a low concentration of sediment.