Entropic velocity distribution for sediment-laden flows with a modified dip estimation model at data-scarce river sites

ABSTRACT

This study proposes an entropic velocity-distribution and dip-position (y_max) model for sediment-laden (SL) flows. Unlike previous studies, the proposed entropic distribution incorporates the effect of suspended sediment (SS) and y_max, to improve velocity predictions near bed and water surface in SL flows. A new dampened mixing length for SL flows is proposed in terms of SS concentration. Moreover, the effect of channel bed roughness (k_s), slope (S), SS, width (B) and flow depth (H) on y_max is studied. Further, a comprehensive model for y_max is proposed as a bivariate function of B/H and k_s/H for natural channels. A comparative analysis is presented with the existing models, which shows the proposed equations provide higher accuracy with fewer parameters and a better representation of physical processes in SL flows. Subsequently, the proposed equations are applied at three gauged sites (Mahanadi River, India), showing their suitability to obtain velocity at data-scarce river sites.

KEYWORDS:

• entropy
• velocity distribution
• dip position
• sediment-laden flow
• von Karman parameter
• discharge
• data-scarce
• ungauged sites

Editor K. Soulis; Associate Editor A. Domeneghetti

Editor K. Soulis; Associate Editor A. Domeneghetti

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India, for funding the research project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contribution

Both authors contributed in conceptualizing and designing the submitted work. Miss Pooja Patel collected and analysed the data, and wrote the original manuscript. Dr Arindam Sarkar reviewed, edited and supervised the project. Further, both authors are responsible for the interpretation of the results and for writing the manuscript.

Data availability

Datasets are freely available and their sources are cited in the references.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India [Grant number 28/1/2016-R&D/228-245].