Sediment transport modelling upstream of Al Kufa Barrage

Abstract

This study estimated the amount of bed sediment load upstream of Kufa Barrage mainly depending on the hydrodynamic conditions, sediment concentration, and hydraulic parameters. Ten cross-sections approximately over 2 km in length in front of the barrage were selected. Velocities and suspended sediment concentrations at 0.2, 0.6, and 0.8 of the water depth at each section were recorded using an ADCP device. A depth-integrated sampling was utilized to examine the collected data from 6th January to 15th October 2022. It was noted that the effective depth-to-width computation methods and the Toffaleti sediment transport function with the Van Rijn fall velocity were the most compatible and appropriate approaches for determining the sediment transport potential in the selected reach. It was also noted that such techniques were better than the previous formulae to predict the total sediment load. The results revealed excellent agreement between the mean sediment discharge obtained using HEC-RAS 6.2, equal to 6.214 kg/s, and the mean sediment discharge obtained from the field measurements, equivalent to 7.142 kg/s.

Keywords

• al kufa barrage
• suspended sediment load
• hec-ras software
• field data
• laboratory work