Numerical Study of Factors Affecting Distribution of None-Equilibrium Suspended Sediment in Natural Rivers (Case Study: Gharasoo River, Kermanshah)

 The concentration changes of suspended load along the river reach and the contributing factors are of importance for hydraulic and environmental engineers. The first step to calculate the concentration of suspended sediment load is determining the flow hydraulic characteristics along a river reach. Although most of flow in nature are unsteady, the quasi-steady flow condition was considered to be simple in this study and the water surface profile along the river reach with irregular cross sections was calculated by standard step-by-step method. In order to calculate suspended sediment load under non-equilibrium condition, the advection-diffusion equation with source term was numerically solved. In the present sediment model, ten discretization methods, five relations for calculating capacity of suspended sediment load, eight relations for diffusion coefficients and eight relations to calculate particle fall velocity were used and their effects on suspended sediment distribution along 18480 m of Gharasoo river were investigated.

 The HEC-RAS model output was used to calibrate the present hydraulic model. The models were run with the conditions as same as Manning roughness coefficient and river geometry conditions. The results showed that the calculated water surface profile along the river reach by two models are completely overlapped each other. In other words, the present model has a very good accuracy to predict the water surface profile in the river reach. As most commercial 1-D models (same as HEC-RAS) only consider the equilibrium condition  for sediment  transport and the bed or total load sediment, comparing the results of present sediment model with them seems not to be reasonable. Therefore, to validate the present suspended sediment model and finding the best method of discretization, an especial shape concentration hydrograph was introduced to the present model as input hydrograph and the model was run when the source term has been deleted deliberately.  The volume below the input concentration hydrograph and calculated hydrographs in different cross sections was compared to each other. Comparing the hydrographs showed that the maximum error in calculating the volume of concentration hydrograph with the input hydrograph was 0.029% implying that the model satisfies the conservation laws as well as reliable programing. Among ten discretization methods, the best method for discretization of the advection-diffusion equation was Van Leer's method with the least error compared to other methods. After validating the model, effect of five relations for calculating capacity of suspended sediment load was investigated. The results showed that using the Wife equation estimated the amount of suspended sediment higher than other equations. The Toffaletti equation also estimated suspended sediment load lower than other equation. Among eight particle fall velocity formulas, Stokes relationship estimated the fall velocity larger than other equations. Hence, the Stokes equation application decreases the possibility of suspending the sediment particles. However, employing Van Rijn and Zanke relationships resulted in a greater suspended sediment load distribution along the river reach. Among eight relationships for diffusion coefficients, Elder and the Kashifipour - Falconer equations exhibited the lowest and the highest amount of diffusion in the concentration hydrograph, respectively. Furthermore, the calculated suspended sediment concentration under non-equilibrium conditions was 11.7 % higher than that under equilibrium conditions along the river reach.

 Most 1-D numerical models only simulate the bed and total loads sediment transport under equilibrium condition while sediments are transported under non-equilibrium conditions in nature. Sediment transport under non- equilibrium conditions may be greater or lower than the equilibrium condition known as the capacity of sediment transport. In this research, a numerical model was developed to simulate the suspended sediment transport in a river reach under non-equilibrium conditions. The amount of suspended sediment concentration was calculated for each sediment grain size. The results showed that the distribution of suspended load along the river reach is not significantly sensitive to the fall velocity relations while the type of sediment transport equation affected the suspended sediment transport concentration. The concentration of suspended sediments for non-equilibrium conditions was also 11.7% higher than the concentration of sediments in equilibrium condition.