Water and Sediment Routing Through Curved Channels

Abstract

A mathematical model for water and sediment routing through curved alluvial channels is developed and applied in a case study. This model, which is for alluvial streams with nonerodible banks, may be employed to simulate stream bed changes during a given flow, thereby providing the necessary information for the design of dikes, levees, or other bank protection. This model incorporates the major effects of transverse circulation, inherent in curved channels, on the flow and sediment processes. In the simulation of the evolution in stream bed profile, the effect of transverse flow is tied in with the aggradation and degradation development. River flow through curved channels is characterized by the changing curvature, to which variations of flow pattern and bed topography are closely related. Simulation of these changing features is based upon the fluid dynamics governing the growth and decay of transverse circulation along the channel.