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The coupling interactions between flood propagation, sediment transport, and river morphology in alluvial rivers are mathematically described by the high-order dynamic wave model. The coupling capability of currently used dynamic wave models is systematically conducted. The results indicate that the propagation of a dynamic flood wave only depends on the Froude number, but is independent of the coupling of sediment transport and river mobility. Furthermore, based on the continuum hypothesis, the dynamic equations describing the motion of the active bed layer are obtained. A renewed dynamic wave model is established. Four families of asymptotic solutions to the eigenvalues of the renewed four-order hyperbolic system are obtained by means of the singular-perturbation technology. The results demonstrate that the interactions between flood propagation, sediment transport, and riverbed mobility are coupled. Propagation of the main dynamic flood wave and the dynamic sediment wave will be slower with the increasing deposition rate, but will be faster when the erosion intensity is enhanced. These mainly occur in the lower flow regime. In the process of deposition, the second dynamic flood wave and the dynamic bed wave will propagate both upward and downstream. Besides, the dynamic bed wave will propagate downstream and the second dynamic flood wave will only propagate upstream, regardless of the flow regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the sediment transport two-phase flow model named SedFOAM is expanded to include soil cohesion, creating a new model named SedCohFOAM within OpenFOAM. The local scouring flume experiment involving a pile on silty seabed and sandy seabed is conducted in a curved flume. Due to the influence of cohesion, the scouring depth at different locations on sandy seabed is 15%–18% greater than that on silty seabed. Observations from this experiment informed the analysis of force balance, wherein the agglomerated silt particles are modeled as large singular entities and the cohesive force is treated as a downward influence that keeps the aggregated particles stationary. Meanwhile, the experimental outcomes are utilized to validate the accuracy of the SedCohFOAM model. The numerical findings demonstrated that SedCohFOAM can simulate the flow field distribution around the pile, variations in seabed shear stress, and alterations in seabed surface morphology. Compared with the SedFOAM model, the SedCohFOAM model has a significantly reduced simulation error in simulating scour on silty seabed. When comparing the cross-sectional profiles of the scour holes derived from the flume experiments with those simulated by SedCohFOAM, it was observed that the ultimate-equilibrium scour depth predicted by the model is consistently lower, but the scour radius in the numerical simulations is larger. The deviation from the experimental results is nearly within 8%, while when the flow velocity is high, the simulation error of the simulated scouring depth behind the pile and the scouring radius in front of pile is amplified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring very-large-scale motions (VLSMs) in open channel flows (OCFs) is crucial for comprehensively understanding material transport and energy exchange. While previous studies focused on OCFs in ideal flumes with simple boundaries, this paper presents large eddy simulation (LES) results on the existence and scale characteristics of VLSMs in complex river morphologies with the Minjiang River in southwestern China as a case study. This research demonstrates that the OpenFOAM-based LES model is capable of accurately reconstructing the time-averaged flow field and providing instantaneous velocity data that capture VLSMs with sufficient resolution. Spectrum analysis of the streamwise fluctuating velocity shows that VLSMs are present in the straight segment of the river, with streamwise wavelengths approximately (16–22) times the water depth but are absent in the bend and confluence segments due to the suppression by secondary currents. This article validates the effectiveness of LES in examining the characteristics of VLSMs in natural rivers, thereby laying a good foundation for further studies on the impacts of such structures on sediment transport and pollutant dispersion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate modelling and prediction of sediment transport in aquatic environments is essential for sustainable coastal and riverine management. Current capabilities rely on physical process-based numerical models and fine-scale sediment flux measurements. High-resolution hydroacoustic instrumentation has emerged as a promising tool for such measurements. However, challenges arise due to the inherent complexity of ultrasound scattering processes. This study introduces a numerical modelling using a point-particle approach to simulate the echoes backscattered by such instrumentation in sediment-laden flow conditions. The model considers geometric, statistical, particle cloud, and flow-induced effects on sediment velocity, concentration, and flux estimates using an acoustic concentration and velocity profiler as a reference. The model performance is assessed here under unidirectional constant flow conditions in terms of velocity, concentration, and time-resolved sediment flux estimates for a large range of the particles' advection speed and sampled volume sizes. Application to the estimation of the measurement accuracy of sediment flux in these flows is also considered, with a final error on the flux seen to be partially controlled by the residence time of particles within the sampled volumes. The proposed model provides insights into scattering processes and offers a tool for investigating robust sediment flux estimation techniques in various flow conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estuarine sediment transport is driven by the combined action of a multitude of influencing factors, including astronomical tides, waves dynamics, and river discharges. This study focuses on the effects of wave forces on sediment transport patterns in micro-tidal estuaries near Wanbao Beach, China. Numerical simulations are carried out using Delft3D. Modeling scenarios are configured using different wave characteristics, spanning from typical waves to those with a return period of 50 years. Results show that waves have a positive effect on landward sediment transport, resulting a larger active range of sediment. By comparing the spatial geomorphic variations under varying wave conditions, we find that modifications in significant wave height (Hs) primarily impact the position of erosion and deposition zones, whereas alterations in spectral peak period (Tp) predominantly influence the magnitude of these changes. The finding is further demonstrated by a comparison of residual currents under different wave intensities. Analysis of sediment transport rates in different transects indicates that the sediment transport rate is highest at the mouth transects and lowest at the alongshore transects. Moreover, variations in sediment transport rates exhibit distinctive patterns between the two outlet transects, even when subjected to identical wave conditions. The disparities are attributed to differences in runoff and the topographical features in proximity to the estuaries. Additionally, we find the sediment transport rate becomes insensitive to the variations in Hs when Hs is larger than a threshold value. The threshold decreases with increasing Tp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of raindrops on sheet flow (SF) is a common phenomenon, which plays a vital role in many important nature and engineering fields. The flow resistance of SF is critical for describing flow characteristics and calculating the sediment transport capacity. However, information regarding the theoretical resistance equations of the total resistance of SF subjected to raindrop impact (fr) and the resistance induced by raindrop impact (Δf) is limited. In this study, combination of the π-theorem of dimensional analysis and multiple experimentally simulated rainfalls and inflows was conducted to obtain and verify the deduced predictive flow resistance equations. The results indicated that using dimensionless variables deduced by the π-theorem to calculate the flow resistance equation was appropriate. The main control of fr of SF under rainfall is the ratio of surface roughness to water depth deduced by π-theorem. A newly developed equation [Eq. (24)] can be used to predict fr, with a Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency index (NSE) of 0.91 and a normalized root mean square error (NRMSE) of 0.166. Δf is a very important component to overall SF resistance, accounting for 0.34%–47.79% of fr. The deduced dimensionless variable of the ratio of rainfall intensity to flow velocity is the main controlling factor of Δf. Finally, a new equation [Eq. (26)] was developed to predict Δf, with NSE = 0.673 and NRMSE = 0.445. This study is helpful for understanding the flow resistance subjected to raindrop impact and provides new and scientific equations for flow resistance coefficient prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of laboratory experiments were undertaken to qualitatively investigate the evolution of wave nonlinearity over a movable bed of sediment with five different beach slopes under regular waves in a medium-scale wave flume. An innovative non-intrusive data collecting system, which mainly consists of three side-looking high-speed cameras, was developed to collect high-resolution and synchronous data on free-surface water elevation of waves and bed level changes without causing any disturbances to wave motions and the movable bed of sediment. On analyzing the collected experimental data, it is found that regular waves become nonlinear when they propagate to the shoaling zone and start breaking, and linear wave theory is quite accurate for calculating wave parameters such as orbital velocity with the correlation coefficient r 2 = 0.8–0.95 before the waves break, but becomes less accurate after the waves break or are in the breaking zone with the smaller correlation coefficient r 2 = 0.4–0.6. Four parameters, wave skewness S k η , asymmetry A y η , Ursell number U r , and Rocha number N P 0 , are introduced to describe the wave nonlinearity, of which S k η and A y η are found to be of largest amplitudes at the wave breaking point and then start to decrease in the breaking zone and are almost unchanged for different beach slopes, while U r further increases in the breaking zone and exceed the first larger value as waves approach to shoreline, but N P 0 is almost linearly proportional to wave orbital velocity amplitude and quite sensitive to beach slope. The location of sandbar is found close to the wave breaking point in the wave flume and may be also considered as the point where wave nonlinearity becomes important for sediment transport in the surf zone, and the linear wave theory becomes less accurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an urgent need to predict the bed-load transport rate in vegetated river ecosystems to support restoration efforts. In response, we have developed a novel model for estimating the effective shear stress acting on the riverbed. This model is based on the energy equation and considers the intrinsic relationship between energy loss in the mean flow and turbulence generated by vegetation in open channel flows with emergent vegetation. Using this bed shear stress model, we assessed the performance of the Meyer-Peter–Müller (MPM) formula in predicting the bed-load transport rate in vegetated flows by comparing it with collected literature experimental data. The results revealed that the MPM formula does not provide accurate predictions. It tends to overestimate the bed-load transport rate when the dimensionless effective shear stress is approximately less than one and underestimate them when the dimensionless effective shear stress is approximately greater than one. This suggests that vegetation enhances and decreases the sediment transport rate when the dimensionless effective shear stress is approximately larger or lower than one, respectively. Consequently, we modified the coefficients of the MPM formula using extensive experimental data, leading to the development of a novel predictive formula for the bed-load transport rate in vegetated flows. This new formula outperforms existing literature equations and is effective for predicting the bedload transport rate, even for umbrella-like vegetation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]