Bank Erosion and Low-Waterway in a River with Bars

Abstract

In a river with bars, the banks are often subjected to erosion due to the convergent flow resulted from the bed geometry, even in a straight channel. The position of a flow converge point alomg the river banks moves depending on the river discharge. And it is known empirically that a bank erosion not always occurs during a high water and it rather occurs during a low water. In this study, flume experiments and field surveys were carried out to investi-gate the processes of bars deformation and low-waterway formation, and the mechanism of bank erosion in a river with alternating bars, especially during a low water.