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Abstract. Despite a rich history of studies investigating fluid dynamics over bedforms and dunes in rivers, the spatiotemporal patterns of sub-bedform bedload transport remain poorly understood. Previous experiments assessing the effects of flow separation on downstream fluid turbulent structures and bedload transport suggest that localized, intermittent, high-magnitude transport events (i.e., permeable splat events) play an important role in both downstream and cross-stream bedload transport near flow reattachment. Here, we report results from flume experiments that assess the combined effects of flow separation–reattachment and flow re-acceleration over fixed two-dimensional bedforms (1.7 cm high; 30 cm long). A high-speed camera observed bedload transport along the entirety of the bedform at 250 frames per second. Grain trajectories, grain velocities, and grain transport directions were acquired from bedload images using semiautomated particle-tracking techniques. Downstream and vertical fluid velocities were measured 3 mm above the bed using laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) at 15 distances along the bedform profile. Mean downstream fluid velocity increases nonlinearly with increasing distance along the bedform. However, observed bedload transport increases linearly with increasing distance along the bedform, except at the crest of the bedform, where both mean downstream fluid velocity and bedload transport decrease substantially. Bedload transport time series and manual particle-tracking data show a zone of high-magnitude, cross-stream transport near flow reattachment, suggesting that permeable splat events play an essential role in the region downstream of flow reattachment.
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Experimental Observations of Bedload Tracer Movement: Effects of Mixed Particle Sizes and Bedforms
Abstract Predicting the transport of bedload tracer particles is a problem of significant theoretical and practical interest. Yet, little understanding exists for transport in rivers in the presence of bedforms, which may trap grains and thereby influence travel distance. In a series of flume experiments with a sandy gravel bed in a large experimental flume, bed elevation and tracer travel distances were measured at high resolution for a range of discharges. As discharge increased, bedform height increased and bedform length decreased, increasing bedform steepness. For all tracer sizes and flow conditions, bedforms act as primary controls on the tracer travel distances. Bedform trapping increases linearly with the ratio of bedform height to tracer grain size, with 50% trapping efficiency for a ratio of two and 90% trapping efficiency for a ratio of four. A theoretical model based on the extended active layer formulation for sediment transport is able to capture much of the distribution of measured travel distances for all tracer sizes and discharges, providing a first connection between tracer transport theory and bedform trapping and indicating normal diffusion of tracers at relatively small timescales. Variable bedform geometry can influence trap efficiency for individual bedforms and the theoretical model can help identify “preferential trapping” conditions. The distribution of tracer travel distances for a mixture of grain sizes and variable discharge, as expected in natural rivers, displays heavy tail characteristics.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1854452
- PAR ID:
- 10415916
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Water Resources Research
- Volume:
- 59
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 0043-1397
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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