Probability of Sediment Incipient Motion Under Complex Flows

Presented in this paper is a mathematical model to calculate the probability of the sediment incipient motion, in which the effects of the fluctuating pressure and the seepage are considered. The instantaneous bed shear velocity and the pressure gradient on the bed downstream of the backward-facing step flow are obtained according to the PIV measurements. It is found that the instantaneous pressure gradient on the bed obeys normal distribution. The probability of the sediment incipient motion on the bed downstream of the backward-facing step flow is given by the mathematical model. The predicted results agree well with the experiment in the region downstream of the reattachment point while a large discrepancy between the theory and experiment is seen in the region near the reattachment point. The possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed

experimentstudyonsedimentincipienceinbackwardfacingstepflow

Flow over a backward-facing step was studied to investigate the effect of large-scale vortex structures on sediment incipience. The transient flow velocity field at the downstream of the backward-facing step was obtained using the technique of Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV). The optical amplification technique was employed to measure the instantaneous flow velocities near the bed and the instantaneous bed shear stress was given. The experimental observations revealed a new insight into the oscillation of the large-scale structure and the three-dimensional characteristics of the flow. In particular, very high turbulence intensity, instantaneous horizontal velocity near the bed and the bed shear stress near the reattachment point were observed. The sediment incipient probability obtained from the sequent images of sediment particles near the bed indicates that the critical instantaneous shear stress of the sediment incipience is independent of flow conditions

NUMERICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF FLOW OVER A SEMICIRCULAR WEIR

The water flow over a semicircular weir is investigated numerically and experimentally in this paper. The numerical model solves the Reynolds equation for a mean flow field with thek-ε-turbulent model. To trace the motion of the free surface, the COF method with geometric reconstruction is employed. The velocity of the flow is measured by means of LDV technique. Four types of flow patterns, the position of the separation and reattachment point, the distribution of shear stress on the bed at downstream of the weir are presented and discussed. The numerical results agree well with the experiment data

Short and long waves over a muddy seabed

The available experimental results have shown that in time-periodic motion the rheology of fluid mud displays complex viscoelastic behaviour. Based on the measured rheology of fluid mud from two field sites, we study the interaction of water waves and fluid mud by a two-layered model in which the water above is assumed to be inviscid and the mud below is viscoelastic. As the fluid-mud layer in shallow seas is usually much thinner than the water layer above, the sharp contrast of scales enables an approximate analytical theory for the interaction between fluid mud and small-amplitude waves with a narrow frequency band. It is shown that at the leading order and within a short distance of a few wavelengths, wave pressure from above forces mud motion below. Over a much longer distance, waves are modified by the accumulative dissipation in mud. At the next order, infragravity waves owing to convective inertia (or radiation stresses) are affected indirectly by mud motion through the slow modulation of the short waves. Quantitative predictions are made for mud samples of several concentrations and from two different field sites.Published versio

Experimental studies on initiation of current-induced movement of mud

The initiation movement of mud exposed to currents was investigated experimentally. The initial movement of mud with different sedimentary densities was determined by measuring the flow velocity and grey level of water's image synchronously. A new method to determine the initiation movement of mud is provided (i.e., the method of relative grey value of water's image in the flume). The experimental results show that the initiation movement of mud can be classified as slight erosion and chunk erosion. The sediment concentration on a muddy bed is low for the slight erosion, and the variation in water's relative grey level is of the order of similar to 10. The sediment concentration for the chunk erosion corresponding to a jump in the curve of relative grey value clearly increases, and the variation in relative grey value at that instant is larger than 20. The critical flow velocity, critical friction velocity, and critical shear stress of initiation of movement of mud increase with the increase in deposit density