Determining hydraulic resistance in gravel‐bed rivers from the dynamics of their water surfaces



Cooper, James R ORCID: 0000-0003-4957-2774, Tait, Simon J and Horoshenkov, Kirill V
(2006) Determining hydraulic resistance in gravel‐bed rivers from the dynamics of their water surfaces. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 31 (14). pp. 1839-1848.

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Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Traditionally, approaches to account for the effect of the boundary roughness of a gravel‐bed river have used a grain‐size index of the bed surface as a surrogate for hydraulic resistance. The use of a single grain‐size does not take into account the spatial heterogeneity in the bed surface and how this heterogeneity imparts resistance on the flow, nor the way in which this relationship changes with variables such as flow stage. A new technique to remotely quantify hydraulic resistance is proposed. It is based on measuring the dynamics of a river's water surface and relating this to the actual hydraulic resistance created by a rough sediment boundary. The water surface dynamics are measured using a new acoustic technique, grazing angle sound propagation (GRASP). This proposed method to measure hydraulic resistance is based on a greater degree of physical reasoning, and this is discussed in the letter. By measuring acoustically the temporal dynamics of turbulent water surfaces over a water‐worked gravel bed in a laboratory flume, a dependency is demonstrated between the temporal variation in the reflected acoustic pressure and measured hydraulic resistance. It is shown that the standard deviation in acoustic pressure decreases with increasing hydraulic resistance. This is shown to apply for a range of relative submergences and bed slopes that are typical of gravel‐bed rivers. This remote sensing technique is both rapid and inexpensive, and has the potential to be applied to natural river channels and to other environmental turbulent flows, such as overland flows. A whole new class of low‐cost, remote and non‐intrusive instruments could be developed as a result and used in a wide range of hydraulic and hydrological applications. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.</jats:p>

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: ## TULIP Type: Articles/Papers (Journal) ##
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 12 Dec 2017 08:32
Last Modified: 13 Nov 2023 09:47
DOI: 10.1002/esp.1447
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3013952