Deciphering Morphological Changes in a Sinuous River System by Higher-Order Velocity Moments

Abstract

Bank erosion in a sinuous alluvial channel is a continuous phenomenon resulting in bank instability and migration of sediment. In this study, flume experiments were conducted in a sinuous channel to investigate its morphological changes and hydrodynamics. High-order velocity fluctuation moments are analyzed at outer and inner banks to explain the morphological variation in a sinuous river channel. The variance of streamwise velocity fluctuations on both banks of the sinuous channel follows a logarithmic law from a particular depth. In the outer bend region, the magnitude of velocity fluctuation moment is significant, indicating erosion. The trend of velocity fluctuation at higher even-order moments is similar to the variance of streamwise velocity fluctuations where the outer bend magnitude is greater than the inner bend. The premultiplied probability density functions (PDFs) and the flatness factor show greater magnitude in the outer bend of the channel as compared to the inner bend.

Flow Hydrodynamic in Open Channels: A Constantly Evolving Topic

“…This Special Issue consists of thirteen manuscripts relating to the topic of flow hydrodynamics in open channels. Various arguments are addressed herein, including flow interaction with hydraulic structures [37,[40][41][42]45,48], flow dynamic in estuaries [38,39], flow-vegetation interactions [42,49], bed sediment effects on flow structures [42,43,45,46], and the effect of channel curvature on flow behaviors and sediment transport [44,47]. This Special Issue represents a significant contribution to the state of the art of the open channel flow fields, extending our knowledge and providing useful references for hydraulic engineers, experts, and those interested in the environment.…”

“…In [47], the authors attempted to understand the erosion and deposition behaviors in meandering watercourses. A series of experiments were conducted in a sinuous channel in order to investigate both the bed morphological changes and the flow hydrodynamic structures.…”

“…The SI, entitled "Flow Hydrodynamic in Open Channels: Interaction with Natural or Man-Made Structures", comprises eleven original articles [37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] and two reviews [48,49] on flow hydrodynamic structures in open channel flows.…”