DERIVATION AND APPLICABILITY OF THE SEDIMENT TRANSPORT FORMULA CONSIDERING THE EFFECT OF RIVER WIDTH AND CROSS-SECTIONAL FORM

Abstract

Estimation of sediment transport rate is important for flood control and river environment. In the previous studies, sediment transport formulae have been derived as functions of tractive stress at the river bed. However, the authors believed that sediment transport rate was regulated by the same mechanism as the determination of a stable cross-sectional form of rivers. In this study, we proposed a sediment transport formula considering the effect of river width and cross-sectional form. At first, we investigated relationships among dimensionless quantities of bed load movement by the dimensional analysis. Then, we derived the sediment transport formula using field observed data of bed load in the United States and Japanese rivers. Finally, we showed that the proposed formula was useful for river course design and river improvement work by the cooperation with the existing bed load formulae.