2021 Volume 20 Issue 4 Pages 248-253
A similarity law between water channel experiments and wind tunnel experiments was newly proposed using the Reynolds and Shields numbers for laboratory studies concerning the mechanisms of sediment transport and channel variation in alluvial rivers. Effectiveness of the similarity law was verified through the comparison of the laboratory data. Numerical values of representative flow velocities and sand grain diameters in classical water channel experiments, for ripples, dunes and alternate bars, were converted to those in wind tunnel experiments through the use of the above similarity law. The converted flow velocities were in the specs of standard wind tunnel apparatus, and then, the converted sand grain diameters were easily obtainable sizes. In conclusion, it was shown that wind tunnel experiments were substitutable for water channel experiments in river sedimentation engineering.
