Abstract
In order to make a physical model of bed material load transport process including both bed load and suspended sediment, it is important to investigate the mechanism of transition from bed load motion to suspension. In this paper, based on clearer definitions of bed load motion and suspension, a physical model of transition from saltation as deterministic motion into suspension as random motion is proposed and it is inspected by film analysis of behaviors of polystyren particles in open channel flows. Furthermore, based on the present model for transition from saltation to suspension, the so-called reference concentration of suspended load, total load transport rate, and the ratio of suspended load to total load are deduced to demonstrate the utility of the present model.
