Bed-load transport modelling by coupling an empirical routing scheme and a hydrological-1-D-hydrodynamic model – case study application for a large alpine valley

Abstract

Sediment transport in mountain rivers and torrents is a substantial process within the assessment of flood related hazard potential and vulnerability in alpine catchments. Focusing on fluvial transport processes, river bed erosion and deposition considerably affects the extent of inundation. The present work deals with scenario-specific bed-load transport modelling in a large alpine valley in the Austrian Alps. A routing scheme founding on empirical equations for the calculation of transport capacities, incipient motion conditions and drag forces is set up and applied to the case study area for two historic flood events. The required hydraulic data result from a distributed hydrological-1-D-hydraulic model. Hydraulics and bed-load transport are simulated sequentially providing a technically well-founded and feasible methodology for the estimation of bed-load transport rates during flood events.