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Prediction of bedload rates in gravel-bed rivers at low-to-moderate flow conditions, where bedload movement is intermittent, remains a challenging problem. While the virtual velocity concept provides a useful approach to bedload rate estimation in the intermittent movement regime, virtual velocity estimation remains hindered by a lack of tools for predicting mean sediment resting time. As a first step toward sediment resting time estimation in gravel beds, the present study develops a semi-theoretical resting time model applicable to nonuniform gravel-sized spherical particles. The model is based on the consideration that interactions of near-bed flow with bed material lead to mobilization of individual resting particles during hydrodynamic momentum transfer events (i.e., impulses). Thus, resting time is affected by impulse magnitude and timing. The primary premise underpinning model development is that an instantaneous velocity time-series generation approach based on the velocity spectrum can be used to mimic hydrodynamic impulses and simulate resting times. Based on past findings, two model parameters are considered important to advancing resting time predictions in gravel beds. First, the relative particle size allows size-fractional resting time predictions for a nonuniform sediment mixture. Second, the hindrance coefficient accounts for hiding effects and enables resting time predictions for different bed structure types. To provide calibration and verification data, laboratory experiments documenting impulse statistics and mean resting times for a range of flow and relative particle size conditions were also performed. The verified model exhibits mean resting times with similar magnitude and trends with increasing stress compared with experimental verification data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The manuscript presents the results of an aggradation experiment performed in a laboratory channel with supercritical flow. The channel was fed with a stationary sediment load exceeding the transport capacity of the flow in the initial condition, thus inducing sediment aggradation and an increase of the bed slope. The experiment is part of a laboratory campaign mimicking sediment overloading in mountain rivers, a process that can determine increased hydraulic risk levels at key spots. A crucial issue in measuring sediment aggradation is the definition and determination of the bed elevation, this issue being quite relevant in experiments with a relatively large transport capacity, where a thick bed-load layer exists and hinders the possibility to determine with confidence a reference bed elevation. The determination of the bed elevation, in turn, impacts the quantification of a number of properties, including the initial sediment transport capacity of the flow, temporal scales of the aggradation process, water depth and Froude number. The manuscript presents a sensitivity analysis of the results to two extreme definitions for the bed elevation: the first one locates the bed at the upper edge of the bed-load layer, while the second one at the lower edge of the bed-load layer where the particles do not move. The presentation of the two alternatives is focused on the experimental methods they use, consistently with the intent of the special issue. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the definition of the bed elevation also has a major impact on numerical models of the process. The experimental results have been reproduced numerically, demonstrating that the calibration parameters returning a best fit are also impacted significantly by how the bed is defined. The preferred definition for analyzing an experimental campaign is locating the bed below the bed-load layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]