Collisional transport model for intense bed load

Abstract

In an open channel with a mobile bed, intense transport of bed load is associated with high-concentrated sediment-laden flow over a plane surface of the eroded bed due to high bed shear. Typically, the flow exhibits a layered internal structure in which virtually all sediment grains are transported through a collisional layer above the bed. Our investigation focuses on steady uniform turbulent open-channel flow with a developed collisional transport layer and combines modelling and experiment to relate integral quantities, as the discharge of solids, discharge of mixture, and flow depth with the longitudinal slope of the bed and the internal structure of the flow above the bed.

Keywords

• granular flow
• sheet flow
• sediment transport
• grain collision
• tilting flume experiment
• kinetic theory