Distributions of velocity, turbulence, and suspended sediment over low-relief antidunes

Abstract

Understanding the interactions between sediment transport and turbulence in a supercritical flow is useful in the study of river hydraulics and fluvial systems and the modeling of such flows in nature. Toward this end, 11 profiles of suspended-sediment concentration and fluid velocity were collected in supercritical conditions over low-relief antidunes in a recirculating laboratory flume. It was found that velocity profiles agreed well with the law of the wall, and that turbulence intensities were similar to those in clear-water flows. The classic Rouse equation was found to under-predict concentration values in the upper 60-80% of the flow depth and a slightly modified version was proposed and successfully tested against experimental data from the present study and others.