Transport modes of sediment

Transport modes of sediment

Transport modes of sediment

Bed load : consists of grains rolling, sliding and jumping in contact with bed of channel.
Suspended load: consists of grains in suspension above the bed of river bed channel.
Wash load: the part of suspended load that is not found in the bed.

The mode of sediment transport depends up on :

1. Sediment characteristics: size, shape, density etc..

2. Movability parameter U*/ws Where U is shear velocity and w is is fall velocity of the sediment
* s

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A).Bed load B).suspended load C).Sheet flow

Transport modes of sediment
The suspended load is related to the total bed shear stress,
Bed-load transport
Contact load
 Rolling or sliding along with the bed
 Characteristics of cohesive materials or low shear stress
Saltation load
 Hopping and bouncing along bed
 Non-cohesive material
 High fall velocity
Suspended -load transport
 Sediments in the state of suspension
 particle are supported by turbulent fluctuations
 Characteristics of the material with low fall velocity
Wash load transport
 Very fine size particles which washed from environment and mixed with water.
 Their weight is negligible 4/26/2022
Transport modes of sediment Continued

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Bed Load Transport

The transport of particles by rolling, sliding and saltating is called the bed load
transport.
For a fluid to begin transporting sediment that is currently at rest on a surface,
the boundary (or bed) shear stress 𝜏b exerted by the fluid must exceed the critical
shear stress 𝜏c for the initiation of motion of grains at the bed.
Bed load transport occurs when the bed shear stress, τ0 exceeds a critical value
(τ0)c. where τ* is the Shields parameter
(τ*)c is the critical Shields parameter

 *   * c  Bed load transport

where S : relative density and d is diameter of sediment particle.

𝜏𝑂
𝜏 ∗=
((𝛾𝑠−𝛾)d 4/26/2022
Bed Load Transport

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Transport modes of sediment

The sediment transport rate may be measured by

 Weight (units: N/s),
 Mass (units: kg/s)
 Volume (units: m3/s).
 In practice the sediment transport rate is often expressed per unit width and
is measured either by mass or by volume.
 Bed load, as one part of the bed material load, is often quantitatively small
and hence does not represent a severe problem of sedimentation.
 On the other hand, as the main factor of the of the bed formation process, it
is always of major importance.
 Roughness of alluvial channels is to a great extent determined by the
movement of the bed load.

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Bed Load Formulae
1. Discharge Approach (bed load expressed in terms of discharge)
 This approach, relating the quantity of transported sediment to
water discharge.
a) Schoklitsch Formula (1934 & 1943)
 The stream is supposed to be wide, hence the sediment
discharge relates to unit width of the bed.
oThe main empirical relation reads as Where
 qb= bed load (kg/s/m),
 d = grain size (mm),
 S = energy slope,
 q = specific water discharge (m³/s/m),
 qc= critical water discharge (m³/s/m).
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Bed Load Formulae Cont….

 The critical water discharge, i.e. the discharge that causes

incipient motion, for sediments with specific gravity 2.65 is
d
given by qc  1.94 x 105 4
S 3

The 1943 Schoklitsch formula

qb  2500 S
3
2
q  qc 
 For sediments with specific gravity 2.65, the critical discharge
3
0 .6 d 2

qc  7
S 6
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Bed Load Formulae Cont….

 The above two equation have been developed for uniform grain
distributions.
 It is, however, generally applied to non-uniform distributions
also, taking d50 (median size) as the characteristic diameter for
the mixture.
 Schoklitsch also suggested a more accurate method, which is as
follows:
 Sediment mixture is arbitrarily sub-divided into several size sub-
ranges having mean diameters da, db, dc, etc; and the partial
quantity of each sub-range is then determined and expressed as
percentage of the total quantity.

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Bed Load Formulae Cont….

 Subsequently, partial bed loads qba, qbb, qbc, etc. are computed for each mean
diameter for the given discharge, q, and given slope, S. The total bed load
for the sediment mixture is then obtained,
qb = a qba +b qbb + c qbc where a, b, c, … indicate the percentage
quantities that each partial sub-range is of the total.
 This formula is applicable to grain sizes in the range of 0.3 – 7.0 mm.
b. Shear Stress Approach
 This approach is much more favored today, because of the importance
accorded to the shear stress in all aspects of the sediment movement in
alluvial channels.
 The best known of these, and probably the most widely used, is the Meyer-
Peter and Mueller formula; it also gives the best agreement with measured
data
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Deterministic bed load transport formulas

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• The representative grain diameter, d, should best be
determined by dividing the grain size distribution curve into
several fractions and then computing the grain size by

dm 
 d p
100

where ; d = average size of grains in a size fraction

p = percentage of a given fraction in respect to the total

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Van Rijn formula
Bed load concentration represented by

Where, Cb = volumetric bed-load concentration

Co = maximum volumetric concentration = 0.65

qb = 0.053 (s – 1)0.5 g0.5 d501.5 D*-0.3 T2.1 for 200 ≤ d ≤ 2000 μ m

qb = 0.1 (s – 1)0.5 g0.5 d501.5 D*-0.3 T1.5 for T ≥ 3

Where , qb = volumetric bed-load transport rate (m2/s)

T = (τ’b - τcr)/τcr = dimensionless bed-shear parameter
C’ = 18log(12h/3d90) = grain related Chézy-coefficient (m½/s)

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Van Rijn formula
h = water depth (m)
d50, d90 = particle diameter (m)
= depth-averaged velocity (m/s)
τcr = critical bed-shear stress according to Shields (N/m2)
D* = d50[(s - 1)g/ν2] ⅓ = dimensionless particle parameter
s = ρs/ρ = relative density
ρs = sediment density (kg/m3)
ρ = fluid density (kg/m3)
ν = kinematic viscosity coefficient (m2/s)
g = acceleration of gravity (m/s2)
τ’b = ρ g ( /C’)2 = μ τb = effective bed-shear stress (N/m2)
μ = (C/C’)2 = bed form factor

C = overall Chézy-coefficient (m½/s) 4/26/2022

τb = ρ g ( /C)2 = overall bed-shear stress (N/m2)

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Bed Load Formulae Con…Bed Load Formulae.

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Bed Load Formulae Cont….

Probabilistic Approach
The Einstein-Brown Method

One of the well-known methods based on probabilistic approach is that of Einstein

(1942, 1950). This theory has two basic ideas,
1. The critical criterion for incipient motion was avoided, because it is
difficult to define,
2. The bed load transport is related to the turbulent flow fluctuations rather
than the average values of forces exerted by the flow on sediment
particles. Consequently, the beginning and ceasing of sediment motion is
expressed in terms of probability.
Here, the Einstein method is not presented; rather the Einstein-Brown method
which is based on the same theory.
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Suspended Load Transport

 Suspended load refers to sediment that is supported by the upward components of

turbulent currents and stays in suspension for an appreciable length of time.
 In most natural rivers, sediments are mainly transported as suspended load.
 The suspended load transport can be defined mathematically as
h h
qsv   u c dz
a
qsw   s  u c dz
a

Where,
 qsv are suspended load transport rates in terms of volume
 qsw suspended load transport rates in terms of weight, are
 u and c time averaged velocity and sediment concentration, by volume at a
distance z above the bed, respectively
 “a” is thickness of the bed load transport;
 “h” is the water depth.
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Suspended Load Transport

Depth-integrated suspended-load transport rate (qs) is defined as the integration of the

product of velocity (u) and concentration (c) from the edge of the bed-load layer (z = a) to
the water surface (z = h)

 qs = Volumetric suspended load transport (m2/s)

 u = Fluid velocity at height z above bed
 c = Sediment concentration (volume) at height z above bed
 ū= Depth-averaged fluid velocity
 ca = Reference concentration at height z = a; above bed
 h = Water depth
 F = Dimensionless shape factor
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SUSPENDED LOAD TRANSPORT IN STEADY AND UNIFORM CURRENTS

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Figure: Definition sketch for suspended sediment transport
Suspended Load Transport

u and c must be expressed mathematically as a function of z. Under steady

equilibrium conditions, the downward movement of sediment due to the fall velocity
must be balanced by the net upward movement of sediment due to turbulent
dC
fluctuations, i.e. Where VC   s 0 convection-diffusion equation
dz

 εs is the momentum diffusion coefficient for sediment, εs= f(z);

 V is fall velocity of sediment particles; and
 C is sediment concentration.
 For turbulent flow, the turbulent shear stress can be expressed as
du
 z  m 
dz
where εm is kinematic eddy viscosity of fluid or momentum diffusion coefficient for
fluid. s   m
where β is a factor of proportionality.
For fine sediments in suspension, it can be assumed that β = 1
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without causing significant error.
Suspended Load Transport

dC  dz and integration
 0
C s
 z
dz 
C  Ca exp


  
a



s 

where
 C are sediment concentrations by weight at distance Z
 Ca are sediment concentrations by weight at distance a above the bed
The shear stress at a distance z above the bed is

 z
 z   S h  z   b 1  
where  h
 τ and τz are shear stresses at channel bottom and a distance z above the bed,
respectively.

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Reference concentration and reference level
Bed forms
Suspended load particles are entrained from dunes by:
 Maximum velocities developed at the upsloping part
 Turbulence mixing in the trough
Van Rijn
The effective reference concentration is defined as:

Where ,
ca = reference concentration (volume)
a = reference level above the mean bed (a = ks or ½ Δ)
D* = dimensionless particle parameter
T = dimensionless bed-shear parameter

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Suspended load transport rate
Van Rijn formula
Suspended load transport can be computed from:

Where ,

Using parabolic-constant concentration profile and logarithmic

velocity profile F=Shape factor

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Suspended load transport rate
Van Rijn formula

Where , z’ = z + ψ = modified suspension parameter

Concentration profiles
Where, c = concentration at height z above the mean bed
ca = reference concentration at height z = a above bed
h = water depth
ws = fall velocity in clear water
u* = bed-shear velocity,
k=van-korman=0.4, ψ = stratification correction parameter
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Z = ws/(β k u*) = suspension number, β= ratio of sediment and fluid mixing

ca = reference volume concentration

c0 = maximum volume concentration

Figure: suspended sediment distribution 4/26/2022

Total Load Transport

 Based on the mode of transportation, total load is the sum of bed load
and suspended load.
 Based on the source of material being transported, total load can also
be defined as the sum of bed material load and wash load.

 There are two general approaches to the determination of total load:

1. computation of bed load and suspended load separately and then
adding them together to obtain total load – indirect method,
2. Determination of total load function directly without dividing it into
bed load and suspended load – direct method.

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