Generalized Bed-Load Function Based on Empirical Data
- 1 August 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
- Vol. 147 (8), 06021008
- https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)hy.1943-7900.0001909
Abstract
There exist many bed-load functions in the literature to calculate bed-load transport rates, but none of them fit data from low to high shear stress conditions. This research presents a generalized bed-load function based on empirical data. Specifically, the classic power law in high shear stress conditions is extended to low shear stress conditions by applying a complimentary error function (or logistic function) and using Coles’ mathematical idea for the wake law in turbulent boundary layer velocity distribution. The resulting generalized bed-load function agrees well with the classic data sets; it reduces to Huang’s power law in the very low and the high shear stress conditions, and it is numerically close to Paintal’s 16th power law in the transitional regime. It is found that the maximum turbulence-induced lift force and the minimum critical shear stress in the Shields diagram correspond to the inflection point (in terms of logarithmic scale) in the Einstein bed-load diagram, resulting in the most efficient bed-load transport rate. After that, this paper discusses the effects of turbulence-induced lift force, critical shear stress, viscosity, nonlinearity, and uncertainty on bed-load transport. Finally, an example with uncertainty analysis is illustrated for applications.
Keywords
This publication has 27 references indexed in Scilit:
- Simple Formulation of Bedload Sediment Transport Rate Based on Novel Definition of Pickup ProbabilityJournal of Hydraulic Engineering, 2020
- Empirical Model for Shields Diagram and Its ApplicationsJournal of Hydraulic Engineering, 2020
- Bedload transport: a walk between randomness and determinism. Part 2. Challenges and prospectsJournal of Hydraulic Research, 2020
- Bedload transport: a walk between randomness and determinism. Part 1. The state of the artJournal of Hydraulic Research, 2020
- Bed-load transport: advances up to 1945 and outlook into the futureJournal of Hydraulic Research, 2018
- Reformulation of the bed load equation of Meyer‐Peter and Müller in light of the linearity theory for alluvial channel flowWater Resources Research, 2010
- Exponential Formula for Bedload TransportJournal of Hydraulic Engineering, 2002
- Mechanics of Sediment TransportPublished by American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) ,1999
- The law of the wake in the turbulent boundary layerJournal of Fluid Mechanics, 1956
- Formulas for the Transportation of Bed LoadTransactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 1942