The Effect of Bed Form on Roughness Coefficient in Unsteady Flows Using a Combined Numerical and Laboratory Method

For investigating the effect of bed form in alluvial channels on the amount of bed load transport, a set of experiments was carried out in a tilting flume under unsteady flow conditions (hydrograph). The produced hydrographs were in triangular form with a maximum discharge of 30 to 45 lit/s/m. Three size of sediment particles were used with equal to 1.5, 2.1 and 3.0mm, clear water without any feeding was supplied from upstream. To analyze the time varying of bed resistance, a numerical model with initial and boundary conditions was used and its outputs were depth, velocity and discharge. The results showed that the inflow made considerable erosion at the starting time of flowing near the channel inlet, and this is a cause of producing bed form, increasing roughness and bed resistance. However, by the time the erosion trend was declined with increasing discharge. Despite of increasing flow turbulence, Froude number and bed erosion decreased gradually when the discharge approaching to its maximum value increasing flow depth. In this process, because of bed elevation changing along the flume, Froude number at any point is different from the other points and bed particles move toward downstream as a progressive wave. The bed resistance coefficient, n, was increased at the start of inflow time and after a proper time it was again increased, and this matter has very important role in sediment transport for non cohesive beds.