Influence of Channel Morphology on Ice Conveyance and Bridging: Experiments with a Numerical Model

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a numerical model used to conduct experiments regarding the influence of channel morphology on ice conveyance and bridging. The morphologies considered are meandering rectangular channels and rectangular channels with islands, channel tributaries, and confluences. The experiments simulated depth-averaged flow and the dynamics of ice-piece movement (two sizes of ice pieces). The results include relative time of ice conveyance along the channel and times to ice clogging and bridging for varying channel meandering. Further, the results show that channel meandering delays ice bridging because it disperses ice pieces, whereas Froude number may hasten or retard time to bridging by dispersing ice or hastening ice congestion. In addition, ice pieces at the front of a group of ice pieces may on average travel slower along the channel than ice pieces in the middle of the group. The results lead to a chart indicating when bridging occurs for ice conveyance in channels of differing meandering or morphology.