Resistance to flow and sediment transport in aggrading channels

Abstract

The purpose of this study is the investigation of resistance to flow and sediment transport in aggrading channels generated by overfeeding. A series of aggradation experiments were carried out by overfeeding sediment load to a movable bed channel previously maintained in equilibrium. The bed and water surface profiles were recorded and the sediment transport rate was measured. These data were used to i) study the time evolution of resistance to flow during the transient situation generated by overfeeding and to ii) check the applicability of the sediment transport model suggested by Yen et al. to the observed non-equilibrium sediment transport situation. As a consequence of this analysis, a slightly different version of the model is suggested and a new relation for the calculation of the velocity of the deposition front is proposed.