Velocity Redistribution in Meandering Rivers

Abstract

An analytical model for calculating the lateral distribution of the depthaveraged primary flow velocity in meandering rivers is presented. A small perturbation approach is used to linearize the governing equations. The well‐known “moment method,” commonly used to solve the concentration distributions, is then used to obtain an approximate solution. This makes it possible to take into account the convective transport of primary flow momentum by the secondary flow. This oft‐neglected influence of the secondary flow is shown to be an important cause of the redistribution of the primary flow velocity. The model, when tested with laboratory data, gives substantially better results than several previous models.