Abstract
This study was conducted to evaluate the accuracy of a three-dimensional (3D) measurement method for water-surface and bed-surface profiles during the formation of sandwaves using the moving optical cutting method (MOCM). An experiment on flow through a bed with an array of uniform hemispheres was conducted, and the water surface profile and the channel bed form were measured using the MOCM. The measured results agreed with the water-surface and bed-surface profiles, confirming that MOCM can be used to measure water-surface and bed-surface profiles when sandwaves are being formed. Two movable bed flume experiments under hydraulic conditions were conducted, in which sand dunes and sandbars were formed. The measurements confirmed that water-surface and bed-surface profiles can be spatiotemporally tracked at high resolutions during the formation process of sandwaves. This suggests that MOCM is a useful technique for investigating the mechanics of sandwaves.
