An introduction to Sediment Transport

Bijan Dargahi ([email protected])

KTH April 2025
Fundamentals of Sediment
Transport

2
 Course Contents

⚫ Introduction
⚫ The characteristics of the sediments
– Size, distribution, shape, density, & fall velocity
⚫ Initiation of motion
⚫ Critical velocity and shear stress concepts
⚫ Transport mechanism
⚫ Bed forms & roughness
⚫ Bed material transport
⚫ Stable channels
⚫ Sediment transport application
⚫ Erosion protection
⚫ Sediment transport measurements
3
Introduction

Importance of sediment
transport, goals, and
approach
 Part 1/2

5
 The importance of Sediment
Transport
• Fluvial hydraulics
– Design of river training, navigation improvement, and
flood control
• Irrigation
– Design of stable channels, intakes, and settling
basins
• Coastal engineering
– Prediction of littoral drift, design of coastal
protections, and harbours
• Dredging
– Rivers, reservoirs, harbours, and coastal regions
6
 Annual sediment yield and suspended sediment for 11 major rivers
(Ref. Dargahi 2013, Encyclopaedia of reservoirs and lakes)

River Drainage area Mean flow discharge (m3/s) Annual sediment yield Annual suspended load
(km2) (t/km2 y) (Mt/y)

Amazon 6 150 000 200 000 187 1150

Colorado (CA) 640 000 32 234 150

Mississippi 334 400 18 400 120 125

St Lawrence 1 185 000 14 300 4 3

Rhien 225 000 2 243 0.72 17

Volga 1 350 000 8 400 26 19

Niger 1 112 700 6 020 32 29

Nile 2 715 000 317 46 125

Ganges 980 000 11 600 535 524

Yellow 980 00 2 858 120 122

7
Sediment transport

Examples of erosion
and sedimentation
Reservoir sedimentation

9
River bank erosion Klarälven

10
The Dez Reservoir in Province of
Kuzestan, Iran

(Doubled curvature concentric arch dam, H=203m, V=3 315 Mm3)

11
Sedimentation and Erosion

Initial equilibrium
Sedimentation C
Erosion
C’

A
10-20 km / 20-30 år

Material transport
Water level difference

Sedimentation
”Alluvial Fan”
12
 Examples of River Delta
Ganges Delta Mississippi Delta

13
Annual suspended load (Mt/y): 525 125
 Goals & Tasks
• The prediction of whether an equilibrium
condition, erosion (scour) or deposition
(silting) will occur
• The determination of the transport
quantities involved
• The prediction of long-term general
transport patterns and loads
• The development of deltaic regions
14
 Approach
• The rate of transport can be expressed by
– Mass, weight or volume per unit time
• The rate can be determined or measured
• The two methods have a low accuracy
– The physics of the sediment transport is not
fully known due to the complex interaction of
the turbulent flow with the mobile sediment
boundary
– We have to rely on the empirical knowledge

15
The characteristics of the
sediments

Size, distribution, shape,

density, & fall velocity
 The characteristics of the sediments
Table 1
American Geophysical Union grade scale for particle sizes

• Size
– Clay, silt, sand, gravel,
cobbles and boulders
• Size determination
– Direct measurements
• Boulders, cobbles &
gravel
– Sieving
• Gravel & sand
– Sedimentation
• Fine sand & silt

17
 Classification of clay
ANd9GcQnVv2BBP3x2MApkpt28uduOx017UlADf0uFo6B8EvBalY-5hZv

Figure 1 Different types of clay

Table 2
American Geophysical Union grade scale for clay

18
 Particle Size Distribution

Mean diameter Dm =
 PD i i i

P i i
(Pi=fraction with diameter Di)
Dg = ( D85 D16 )1 / 2

Geometric mean diameter

Dg = (D84 D16 )
1/ 2

Geometric standard deviation

1/ 2
 D84 
 g =  
 D16 
Figure 3 Coastal Sediments, New South Wales
σg≤1.5: uniformly distributed (* log-normal plot)
19
 Shape definition
• Shape
– Ratio of the surface area of a sphere and the surface
area of the particle at equal volume
• Roundness
– Ratio of the average radius of curvature of the edges
and the radius of circle inscribed in the maximum
projected area of the particle
• Shape factor
– For three mutually perpendicular axis is S. f = c / ab

Sphere and sands S.f= 1 and ≈0.7, respectively

20
 Density
Sediment originates from disintegration or
decomposition of rocks
Clay: fragments of feldspars
and micas
Clay: feldspar Sand: quartz Silt: silica

Figure 4 Sediment origin

21
 Fall velocity
• Fall velocity of a sediment is an important parameter in
studies on suspension and sedimentation of sediments
• It is defined by equation giving the equilibrium between
gravity force and flow resistance

 2
FR
1
D (  s −  w ) g = CD  wW
3
D2 (1)
6 2 4

Fw FR FW

Figure 5 Forces on particle

22
 Fall velocity
1/ 2
 4 gD  (s − w )
W =    in which = (2)
 3 CD  w

WD
CD = f ( ) (3)

24
For spherical particles at Re<1: CD = (4)
Re
 g D2
Eqns 2 & 3 give the Stokes Law: W= (5)
18

For large Re, W varies with D1/2 to D2 !

23
Figure 6 Drag coefficient vs. Reynolds number
(Alberston 1953)

24
Figure 7 Relation of nominal diameter and fall velocity
for naturally worn quartz particles

25
Initiation of motion

Critical velocity and shear

stress concepts
 Single particle fundamental equation of motion
(Newton’s 2nd law, Ossen 1927)

4a 3 4a 3 2a 3  a t vs (t1 ) − v(t1 )  4

3
 s vs =
3
 s v −
3
 s (vs − v) − 6a (vs − v ) +
  
t0
dt1
t − t1  3
 − (s −  )g

I II III IV V VI

I: Force required to move

the particle IV.: Linear resistance- Stokes term

II.: Pressure force V.: Besset term i.e., the force due to the
history of the particle
III.: Surplus inertia force
VI.: Buoyancy force
caused by relative velocity

27
Simplified equation for steady state

 ( vs − v ) 2 4a 3
CD a 
2
+ (s −  )g = 0
2 3

28
 Simplified theory
• The equilibrium of a particle on a stream bed is
disturbed if the resultant effect of disturbing
forces becomes greater than the stabilising
forces
– Disturbing forces: drag force, lift force, and viscous
forces on the particle surface
– Stabilising forces: gravity & cohesion
• The forces have a strong fluctuating character
thus the initiation of motion has a statistical
nature
29
 Initiation of movement of the bed
• The initiation is called the critical condition
or initial scour, can be defined in several
ways:
– Critical velocity equations
• Action of water on the particles
– Critical shear stress equations
• Action of the fractional drag of water on the
particles
– Lift force concept
• Pressure difference due to the velocity gradient

30
Critical Velocity concept
Particle stability

Figure 8

31
 Force balance

Submerged weight of the particle= Ws = k1 (  s −  ) g d 3 (6) Stabilizing force

u 2
Drag force= FD = CD k2 d 2 (7)
2
u 2 Destabilizing forces
Lift force= FL = CL k3d 2
(8)
2
Ft
Inception of motion requires tan  = (9)
Fn
In which:
• CD & CL are drag and lift coefficients
• Ft & Fn are forces parallel and normal to the repose angle φ
• k1, k2 k3 are shape factors

32
 Critical Velocity Concept
Incipient movement for cohesionless solid particles is given by Eq. 10

W sin  + FD
tan  = φ=angle of repose (10)
W cos  − FL

Set u=ucr and substitute Equn. 6-8 in Equn.10

 (ub2,cr ) 2k1 (tan  cos  − sin  )

= (11)
g (  s −  )d C D k 2 +C L k3 tan 

Sediment coefficient

D (12)
Jarochi (1963) ucr = 1.4 gd ln (m/s)
7d
ucr2 d (13)
Neill (1967) = 2.5( ) −0.2 (cm/s)
g (  s −  )d D 33
Criterion by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

u2 (14)
Dm 
2g
• Minor turbulence: α=0.2
• Normal turbulence: α=0.5
• Major turbulence: α=1.4

Material s − w
=
w
Sand, gravel 1.65

Masonry 0.75-1.15

Lead slags 2-3

34
 Erosion-Deposition criteria for uniform particles
(Hjuström 1935)

ucr≈38 cm/s

35
d=1 mm
 Critical Tractive Force Concept
Static equilibrium requires:
✓∑stabilizing forces= ∑distrusting forces
✓∑Moments of stabilizing forces= ∑Moments distrusting forces

F (drag & lift forces)

α1
α2

Ws Figure 9

(15)
1 o d   2 (  s −  w ) gd
2 3
36
 Critical Tractive Force Concept
1
 cr = (  s −  w ) gd (16)
2
 cr
=c ψc is called Shields parameter
g (  s −  )d

 cr u 2
ucr*d
c = = = f(
cr*
) = f (Re* ) (17)
g (  s −  )d g (  s −  )d 

Figure 10

37
Figure 10 Shield diagram dimensionless critical shear
stress VS Shear Reynolds number

38
Remember!
0 =  g h S f =  u 2
*
(18) u* = g hSf (19)

In which
Sf=slope of the energy line & h=mean flow depth

For turbulent flows along a smooth wall the velocity distribution

is given by Equation 20. Could be applied to the mean flow

u u* y
= 5.75 log (20) Figure 11
u* 

39
Figure 11Theoretical velocity distribution along a smooth wall

40
 Effect of various factors on critical shear
stress
• Particle shape
– The influence could not be observed in experiments
• Ratio of water depth to particle size (h/D)
– ψc=f(h/D)-1
• Influence of bed and side slopes
– For a particle on a slope the value of critical shear
stress will reduce
• Influence of pore water-flow
• Influence of sediment gradation
– Armoring

41
Influence of bed and side slopes
(W sin  ) 2 + 2 FDW sin  sin  + FD2
tan  = (22)
W cos − FL

tan2 
 =  (cos 1 − 2 )
w b (22)
tan 
cr cr

β= angle of inclination of shear

FL
FD stress as a result of secondary
β motion (curved channels)
ΣF
Wcosθ
Wsinθ φ= angle of repose

W
Figure 12 42
Figure 13 Angle of repose of noncohesive material Lane (1953)

43
 Part 2/2

44
Transport mechanism

General concepts
 Introduction
• The most important parameters
– Bottom shear stress, flow depth, and bed
roughness
• Transport modes
– Bed load: movement of particles in contact
with bed by rolling, sliding, and jumping
– Suspended load: movement of the particles in
the flow by the diffusion action of the turbulent
flow field (u*/W≈2)
46
Figure 14 Schematic of the transport modes

Sliding Suspension

Rolling
FL
Saltation
Vr

FD
FG

Bed load transport

Suspended load transport

47
The origin of the transport

Origin of
transported
material

Bed material Wash load

Suspended
Bed load
load

48
 Bed forms
• Bed forms are of interest for many reasons
– Determine the roughness of a stream
– Navigation is limited by the maximum bed
level thus depends on the height of bed
deformation
– Bed forms and sediment transport are
interrelated

49
Figure 15: Classification of bed forms

Lower regime Upper regime

Fr<0.4 to 1 Fr> 1

50
Figure 16 Dunes & Ripples

51
 Important concept of flow resistance
Flow separation

Flow Flow
P+ P-

u D  Df  − p body nx dS
D  Ds    dS
z body

Skin friction Form drag

52
 Einstein decomposition
Skin friction + Form drag! Skin friction!

U
h  b = gh S f U
hs  b = ghs S f

• No bedform
– All drag on the bed is skin friction, i.e., tangential drag force acts to pull
the sediment
• Bed forms such as ripples, part of the drag is form drag due to flow
separation which is normal to the bed surface
• Conclusion
– normal stress does not contribute directly to the motion of bed grains
– Bed load calculations: form drag is subtracted from the total drag!

53
Bed material transport

Bed and suspended

loads
 Important aspects
• All the equations are semi-empirical
• Based on flume tests
• Only valid within the experimental range
• The equations can only estimate the
equilibrium loads or the mean transport
capacity of the flow

Do not use the equations outside their validity range!

55
 Bed load transport
• Three different approaches
– The duBoys-type equations
• Consider a shear stress relationship
– The stochastic (probabilistic) -type equations
• Considering a discharge relationship
– The Einstein-type equations
• Based on statistical consideration of the lift force

56
 Some well known equations
• duBoys (1879)
• Meyer-Peter and Muller (1934)
• Kalinske (1947)
• Einstein (1950)
• Bagnold (1966)
• Van Rijin (1984)

57
 duBoys-type equations (1879)

• The sediment moves in layers, each with a

thickness of ε
• The layers move by the tractive force given by
Eq. 19
• If a linear velocity distribution applies then the
amount of solid material per unit time and per
unit width is given by Eq. 23
(n-1)
nth layer
n(n − 1)
v
s
qs =  vs
(n-1) layer
nε
(23)
n

58
 Deterministic bed load transport
equation
• Meyer-Peter and Muller (1948)
– Based on extensive experimental work in ETH
Switzerland in hydraulic flume
• 50m long & cross-section 2mx2m
• Uniform bed material D=0.4 to 29mm
• Slope I=0.004 to 0.02
• Flow depth 0.1 to 1.2m

59
Meyer-Peter and Muller

b = 8(  − 0.047) 1.5
(24)

qb,c
b = Dimensionless bed-load transport rate (25)
d 1.5
m ( s − 1) g
 b ,c
= Dimensionless particle mobility parameter (26)
(  s −  ) gDm

1. 5
C
= ' (27)
C  Bed form factor

 b ,c =  g h S f Applied shear stress by flow (28)

qb,c Volumetric bed load transport (m2/s)

60
Meyer-Peter and Muller

(29)
 12h 
C = 18 log  

 k s , c 

 12h 
C ' = 18 log 
 D 90  (30)

h = flow depth (m)

Sf = energy gradient
Ks,c = effective bed roughness (m)
s =ρs/ρ relative density

61
Stable channel design

Tractive force & regime

methods
 Stable channel design
• What is a stable channel?
– A stable channel in alluvial material is one in which
scour of banks in alignment do not occur. Deposition
and scour allowed if the long term equilibrium is
maintained
• Method
– Tractive force
• Based on limiting velocity or critical shear stress of the bed
material
– Regime theory
• Originated from India developed by Kennedy, Lindley, Lacy,
Inglis, and Blench)

63
Regime theory

Qs D  S Q (31)

64
 Regime Equations

U2 Bed factor (ft.s-units) (32)

Fb =
h
U 3h Side factor
Fs = (33)
A
Fb5 / 6 Fs1 / 12m
1/ 4
I=
c
3.63Q1 / 6 g (1 + )
2330 (34)
I = slope
c = bed load concentration p.p.m by weight
A F
B= = Q b (35)
h Fs
65
 Regime Equations
(36)
1 Fs 1 Fs
h=3  h=3
Q Fb2 q Fb2
(37)
U = 6 Fb Fs Q

Blench suggests:
(38)
Fb = 1.9 D (1 + 0.012c)

D in mm, sand range only and Fs=0.1, 0.2, 0.3 loam with every slight, medium
and high cohesion

Design curves for various different cases

66
 Sediment transport application

⚫ Simplified general governing equations

⚫ Modelling channel aggradation &degradation
⚫ Assigmet

67
Simplified governing equations

Rigid bed

Equations of flow continiuty &momentum

Mobile bed

Equations of sediment continiuty

h=flow depth, U=flow velovity, Se=energy slope,

z=channel bed elevation & qs=sediment discharge
68
Degradation
• The supply of solid discharge is reduced at the upstream
• The flow discharge is increased
• Lowering of a fixed point in the channel bed at the downstream

Aggradation
• The supply of solid discharge is increased at the upstream
• The flow discharge is decreased
• Lowering of a fixed point in the channel bed at the downstream
69
 Equations applied to mobile bed channels quasi-steady & Fr<0.6

𝜕𝑈 ℎ 𝜕𝑧 (39)
𝑈−𝑔 +𝑔 = −𝑔𝑆𝑒
𝜕𝑥 𝑈 𝜕𝑥

𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑞𝑠 𝜕𝑈 (40)
1−𝑝 + =0
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑈 𝜕𝑥
If quasi steady uniform ∂U/ ∂x=0, (39) gives
𝜕𝑧 𝑈2 𝑈3 (41)
0+𝑔 = −𝑔𝑆𝑒 = −𝑔 2 = −𝑔 2
𝜕𝑥 𝐶 ℎ 𝐶 𝑞

𝜕𝑧 𝜕2𝑧 (42)
combining (39)-(41) yields −𝐾 𝑡 2 =0
𝜕𝑡 𝜕 𝑥

OBS! (42) only valid x>3h/Se

1 𝜕𝑞𝑠 1 𝐶 2ℎ
K(t) is the coeffcient of diffusion given by: 𝐾 = 3 𝜕𝑈 (1 − 𝑝) 𝑈 (43)

70
(43) can be rewritten as (44):

2
1 𝜕𝑞𝑠 1 𝑈 𝑈𝑜
𝐾= (44)
3 𝜕𝑈 (1 − 𝑝) 𝑆𝑒𝑜 𝑈

linearization of (44) (U≈U0) gives (45)

1 𝜕𝑞𝑠 1 𝑈0 (45)
𝐾=
3 𝜕𝑈 (1 − 𝑝) 𝑆𝑒𝑜

apply power-law for solid discharge 𝑞𝑠 = 𝑎𝑠 𝑈𝑏𝑠 we get (46)

1 1 1
𝐾 ≅ 𝑏𝑠 𝑞𝑠 (46)
3 (1 − 𝑝) 𝑆𝑒𝑜

71
Estimating the solid sediment load Grafet al. (1968)

−2.52
𝐶𝑠 𝑈𝑅ℎ (𝜌𝑠 − 𝜌)/𝜌 𝐷50
= 10.39
3 𝑆𝑓 𝑅ℎ
(𝜌𝑠 − 𝜌)/𝜌 𝑔𝑑50 (47)

𝑞𝑠 = 𝐶𝑠 𝑈ℎ
(48)

𝑞𝑠 ∆𝑡
∆ℎ = (49)
1.13(1 − 𝑝) 𝑘∆𝑡

72
Degradation

• Lowering of the water level as the channel enters a reservoir

• Assume the flow is steady and quasi-uniform

73
The solution of Eq. 42 by Laplace transformation yields

𝑥
𝑧 𝑥, 𝑡 = ∆ℎ 𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑐 (50)
2 𝐾𝑡

Where the comlementary error function is given by:

2 ∞ −𝜀2
𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑐 𝑌 = න 𝑒 𝑑𝜖 (51)
𝜋 𝑌

74
After what time period the bed elvation will be lowered by 50%
i.e. z/Δh=0.5/?

𝑧(𝑥, 𝑡) 1 𝑥50%
(50) gives: = = 𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑐 = 𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑐(𝑌) (52)
∆ℎ 2 2 𝐾𝑡50%

Usíng the value of error function we get:

(53)
𝑥50% = 0.48 2 𝐾𝑡50

2
𝑡50% = 𝑥50% / 0.962 𝐾 (54)

75
Erosion protection

Method & Criteria

Best material natural stones!

77
 Method
• Riprap
– The region is protected by several layers of
non-cohesive materials known as filter layers
– The required layer size is computed from
either the equations developed for critical
velocity and critical shear stress concepts
• Geotextile protection e.g. nylon tissue
• Concrete blocks
• Combined riprap and geotextile

78
Available common erosion protection methods

79
Some examples of different methods

80
 Design criteria
• Stability
– Shear stress criterion
– Uplift criterion
• Permeability requirements
– Criterion I
– Criterion II
– The riprap consists of 2
to 3 layers

81
 Filter Design
• Criterion I
– Finer particles of a layer should be prevented
from being sucked through the layer on top of
it
– Ia: D15(upper layer)/D85(layer below)≤5

– Ib: D50(upper layer)/D50(layer below)=a

– round particles (gravel) a=5 to 10
– square particles (mechanically broken) a=10 to 30
– Graded material a=12-60

82
 Filter Design
• Criterion II
– II-a: D15(upper layer)/D15 (layer below it)=b
– round particles (gravel) b=5 to 10
– square particles (mechanically broken) b=6 to 20
– graded material b=12-40
– II-b: D5(upper layer)>0.75mm

83
Sediment transport
measurements

Bed and suspended

load samplers
Suspended load sampler

85
Bed load sampler

86
End of the lecture!

3 tutorials on stable channel

design & bed load