BED VARIATION ANALYSIS IN THE CHIKUGO RIVER ESTUARY BY THE FLOOD FLOWS

Abstract

A series of fisherie issues in the Ariake sea has been believed to be caused by a lack of sand supply from the Chikugo river on the basis of few investigations of characteristics and amount of sediment transport in the the Chikugo river estuary. The core sampling and super-sonic echo sounder indicates that the vertical structure of mid stream of the Chikugo river estuary is consists of complex alternate layer and the rate of water content is much different to each layer. To make the rate of sand transport in the Chikugo river estuary clear, the authors applied unsteady quasi-three dimensional flood flow and river bed variation analysis using observed temporal changes in water surface profiles of flood. In the analysis, the bed layer which the rate of water content upper than 70% is calculated 2009by the experimental equation of erosion speed of the cohesive material. The results of analysis indicates that the rate of sand supply is strongly affected by the tidal level change of the Ariake sea.