Further laboratory studies of the roughness and suspended load of alluvial streams

Abstract

A laboratory study was made to determine the variation with depth and velocity of the hydraulic and sediment transport characteristics of a constant-discharge flow. Eight experimental runs were performed in a 60-foot long, 33.5-inch wide recirculating laboratory flume. The unit discharge for all runs was 0.50 cfs per ft. and the velocity was varied from 0.91 to 2.21 fps, corresponding to a change in depth from 0.550 to 0.228 ft. The bed sand used for these experiments had a geometric mean sieve diameter of 0.142 mm and a geometric standard deviation of 1.38. As the velocity was increased, the bed form changed from a dune-covered configuration to a flat bed, with sand waves occurring at intermediate velocities. It was found that for the unit discharge and bed sand used in this investigation, two different velocities and sediment transport rates are possible for a given slope, or a given bed shear velocity; however, this multiplicity is possible only in the range of slope and shear velocity where major changes in the bed configuration occur since it is a result of large variations in the bed roughness. Therefore the slope or shear velocity cannot logically be used as an independent variable since neither of these quantities uniquely determines the velocity or transport rate. However, if the velocity is used as the independent variable for a constant-discharge flow, the slope, shear velocity, and friction factor are all uniquely determined. The sediment transport rate was found to be a single-valued, uniformly increasing function of velocity, and it can therefore be used in place of the velocity as the independent variable. A comparison of data from this investigation with data from previous investigations which used the same sand showed that even a small decrease in the amount of fine material in the bed sand can have a significant effect on the transport rate. However, even relatively large changes in the standard deviation of the bed material have a small effect on the friction factor.