Thesis (M.S.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Forestry. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 2005. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The inner continental shelf off the western half of the barrier island Fire Island, NY, is characterized by a series of obliquely oriented shoreface-connected ridges. The long-term historic shoreline record shows persistent undulations in shoreline shape at an alongshore scale similar to the alongshore scale of the ridges. This suggests that the ridges affect the wave transformation, alongshore sediment transport and corresponding shoreline change. These processes are investigated by utilizing the SWAN (Simulating WAves Nearshore) model, forced with realistic wave parameters, on a simplified, synthetic bathymetry replicating the scales of the shoreface-connected ridges. Results indicate that the relative magnitude of alongshore variations of modeled waves, alongshore transport, and the corresponding shoreline change are highly correlated with the relative orientation of the incoming waves to the ridges. Alongshore variations in both wave height and direction along the breaker line are much stronger when the predominant wave direction is along the main axis of the ridges rather than perpendicular to the ridge crests. This pattern of wave height variation is further explained by evaluating the directional energy spectrum and using a reverse ray-tracing technique. The gradients of the alongshore sediment transport, which lead to shoreline change, also appear to be stronger for waves with an angle of incidence similar to the ridge orientation. These results help explain the relationship between the oblique shoreface-connected ridges and the corresponding shoreline changes and shed light on the connection between the inner-shelf ridges and persistent shoreline undulations for the Western portion of Fire Island.

Cette recherche porte sur les mécanismes de ségrégation dans le transport de sédiments par charriage. Des expériences simplifiées consistant à introduire un débit de particules fines sur un lit plus grossier, mobile, en équilibre, ont été entreprises dans un canal particulaire étroit en utilisant des billes de verre sphériques. Les expériences montrent des réponses différenciées en fonction du rapport de taille entre les particules grossières du lit (Dc) et les fines (Df). Des rapports de taille (Dc/Df) entre 7,14 et 1,25 ont été testés, pour différents débits solides de particules fines, tout en maintenant le débit solide des particules grossières constant. Des travaux antérieurs ont mis en évidence une augmentation des débits solides suite à l’introduction de grains fins. Les expériences présentées ici identifient les frontières au sein de ce comportement.Le tamisage cinétique a lieu à la surface du lit mobile, avec des sédiments plus fins se déplaçant vers le bas de la couche de charriage à l'interface du lit grossier quasi-statique. Le comportement à cette interface dicte comment le système répond à l’introduction de sédiments fins. Si, par percolation spontanée, le sédiment fin est capable de s’infiltrer dans le lit quasi-statique sous-jacent, le débit solide total augmente et le lit s’incise (diminution de pente). Toutefois, si les fines ne peuvent géométriquement s’infiltrer ou dépassent la capacité de transport, elles forment une couche quasi-statique sous la couche de charriage, qui empêche l'entraînement du lit sous-jacent, résultant en un exhaussement (augmentation de pente).Un essai formel de la reproductibilité des résultats ci-dessus a été effectué dans un autre laboratoire avec le même mode opératoire expérimental. La comparaison des résultats qualitatifs révèle les mêmes processus dominants. Cependant, des différences sont notées dans les résultats quantitatifs, du fait de la quasi-impossibilité de reproduire exactement la même expérience.Une dernière série d'expériences évalue les différences et les similitudes entre les expériences menées avec des billes de verre sphériques et des matériaux naturels ce qui permet d’étudier l’influence de la forme. Alors que les expériences avec des matériaux idéaux révèlent des mécanismes fondamentaux associés au transport granulaire et à la ségrégation, plusieurs nouveaux phénomènes sont observés avec des matériaux naturels, notamment une modification du potentiel d’infiltration et l’émergence de formes du lit. / This research focuses upon size segregation mechanisms in bedload sediment transport. Simplified experiments with fine grain inputs to a mobile coarse bed in equilibrium were undertaken in a small, narrow flume using spherical glass beads. The experiments demonstrate the influence of the size ratio between the bed (Dc) and the input (Df) upon the channel response. Size ratios (Dc/Df) between 7.14 and 1.25 were tested, with a constant coarse feed rate, and a variety of fine feed rates. Previous work has documented an increase in sediment transport rates as a result of a fine grain input; the experiments presented herein identify boundaries within this behaviour.Kinetic sieving takes place in the mobile bed surface, with the finer sediment moving to the bottom of the bedload transport layer at the interface to the underlying quasi-static coarse bed. The behavior at this interface dictates how a channel responds to a fine sediment input. If, by spontaneous percolation, the fine sediment is able to infiltrate into the underlying quasi-static bed, the total transport increases and the bed degrades causing a reduction in the slope. However, if the fine sediment input rate exceeds the transport capacity or is geometrically unable to infiltrate into the underlying bed, it forms a quasi-static layer underneath the transport layer that inhibits entrainment from the underlying bed, resulting in aggradation and an increase in bed slope.A formal test of the reproducibility of the aforementioned results was undertaken in a different laboratory, with the same experimental procedure. Comparison of the qualitative results reveals that the same dominant processes occur. Consistent differences, however, were present between the quantitative results; likely a result of differences in the experimental arrangement.A final set of experiments assesses the differences and similarities between experiments undertaken with spherical glass beads and natural materials to examine the complexities introduced due to particle shape. While the experiments with ideal materials reveal fundamental mechanisms associated with granular transport of mixed sizes, several key new phenomena are apparent in the experiments with natural materials, including changes in the infiltration potential and the emergence of bed structures.

Sur les bassins versants des Terres Noires, les sédiments marneux sont dégradés très rapidement. Les matériaux fins ainsi produits peuvent être à l'origine d'épisodes de crues très concentrées (800~g/L). La première partie de cette thèse traite des processus responsables de la production de sédiments fins. Ces processus adviennent à deux échelles de temps : A long-terme, entre les périodes de crues, les matériaux du lit exposés aux intempéries sont altérés sous l'effet de cycles gel/dégel et humectation/dessication. Pour quantifier cette vitesse d'altération, les données climatiques de Draix sont combinées à des expériences sur la sensibilité des marnes aux alternances de température et d'humidité. A court-terme, pendant les crues, les matériaux charriés sont soumis à l'abrasion et à la fragmentation sous l'effet de sollicitations mécaniques. Des expériences en canal circulaire permettent de quantifier la dégradation pendant les crues. On montre finalement qu'il est indispensable de considérer ces deux échelles de temps pour rendre compte de la vitesse de dégradation totale observée dans les lits. Pour étudier plus en détail la dégradation mécanique pendant les crues, on investigue l'effet de la fragmentation et de l'abrasion à l'échelle d'un caillou par l'intermédiaire de simulations numériques avec la méthode des éléments discrets et d'expériences de fragmentation. Les propriétés de rupture de la marne ainsi obtenues sont ensuite intégrées dans une modélisation de l'évolution d'une distribution granulométrique sous l'effet de la fragmentation et de l'abrasion. Les résultats indiquent que la fragmentation et l'abrasion sont également importantes mais que l'efficacité de la fragmentation décroît au cours de la sollicitation. Dans une seconde partie, on étudie le comportement d'une suspension de sédiments fins de marnes, et l'influence de la concentration sur son écoulement. Cette étude est basée sur des mesures de rhéométrie et sur des expériences d'écoulement en laboratoire pour différentes configurations de pente, débit, rugosité, concentration. Les expériences mettent en évidence une transition vers un comportement non-newtonien à forte concentration (au-delà de 600 g/L). Ceci se traduit notamment par un ralentissement de l'écoulement associé à l'apparition d'une zone de "plug" non-cisaillée L'écoulement devient alors laminaire et le frottement augmente fortement. Ce changement de comportement sur le terrain peut être une source d'erreurs non négligeable dans l'estimation des débits lors des crues chargées. / On the Terres Noires marly catchments, downstream fining patterns and high concentrations of suspended sediments (up to 800 g/L) are observed. The present work is organised in two parts. The first part investigates the processes that are involved in the production of fine sediments. Such processes occur at two different time scales: At a monthly scale, between the floods, bed sediments are exposed to weathering due to frost/thaw and wetting/drying alternations. The rate of such long-term processes is estimated using climatic data and experiments on marly pebbles. At the smaller time scale of a flood (a few minutes), bedload sediments are subject to abrasion and fragmentation due to mechanical loading. The rate of this short-term process is quantified by performing experiments in an annular flume device. Eventually, we show that both short and long-term processes are necessary to explain the field observed degradation rates. To study more in detail the mechanical degradation at the pebble scale, numerical simulations of friction and impact loading are performed with the Discrete Element Methods, as well as fragmentation experiments on marl. The resulting rupture properties of marl are therefore incorporated into a new model that describes the evolution of the grain-size distribution of sediments. The model shows that fragmentation and abrasion are both involved and that the efficiency of fragmentation decreases. The second part of the work is focused on the behaviour of a suspension of fine marly sediments, and on the influence of the concentration on such flow. This study is based on rheometer measurements and flume experiments at various slopes, discharges, flume roughnesses and concentrations. These experiments demonstrate that the fluid behaviour becomes non-newtonian at high concentrations (above 600 g/L). This creates an unsheared plug zone that slows the flow down. The flow may therefore become laminar with a high friction coefficient. With such a change in the fluid behaviour, the method used in the field for discharge estimation will not work anymore for highly concentrated floods.

Anthropogenic climate change significantly affects water resources. River flows in mountainous regions are driven by snowmelt and are therefore highly sensitive to increases in temperature resulting from climate change. Climate-driven hydrological changes are potentially significant for the fluvial geomorphology of river systems. In unchanging climatic and tectonic conditions, a river's morphology will develop in equilibrium with inputs of water and sediment, but climate change represents a potential forcing on these variables that may push the system into disequilibrium and cause significant changes in river morphology. Geomorphic factors, such as channel geometry, planform, and sediment transport, are major determinants of the value of river systems, including their suitability for threatened and endangered species and for human uses of water. This dissertation research uses a hierarchical modeling approach to investigate potential impacts of anthropogenic climate change on river morphology in the interior Pacific Northwest. The research will address the following theoretical and methodological objectives: 1) Develop downscaled climate change scenarios, based on regional climate-model output, including changes in daily minimum and maximum temperature and precipitation. 2) Estimate how climate change scenarios affect river discharge and suspended-sediment load, using a basin-scale hydrologic model. 3) Examine potential impacts of climate-driven hydrologic changes on stream power and shear stress, bedload sediment transport, and river morphology, including channel geometry and planform. The downscaling approach, based on empirically-estimated local topographic lapse rates, produces high-resolution climate grids with positive forecast skill. The hydrologic modeling results indicate that projected climate change in the study rivers will change the annual cycle of hydrology, with increased winter discharge, a decrease in the magnitude of the spring snowmelt peak, and decreased summer discharge. Geomorphic modeling results suggest that changes in reach-averaged bedload transport are highly sensitive to likely changes in the recurrence interval of the critical discharge needed to mobilize bed sediments. This dissertation research makes an original contribution to the climate-change impacts literature by linking Earth processes across a wide range of spatial scales to project changes in river systems that may be significant for management of these systems for societal and ecological benefits. This dissertation includes unpublished co-authored material.

The Willamette is a gravel-bed river that drains ~28,800 square kilometers between the Coast Range and Cascade Range in northwestern Oregon before entering the Columbia River near Portland. In the last 150 years, natural and anthropogenic drivers have altered the sediment transport regime, drastically reducing the geomorphic complexity of the river. The purpose of this research is to assess longitudinal trends in sediment transport within the modern flow regime. Sediment transport rates are highly discrete in space, exhibit similar longitudinal patters across flows and increase non-linearly with flow. The highest sediment transport rates are found where the channel is confined due to disconnection of the floodplain and the river runs against high resistance terraces. The spatial distributions of sediment transport rates and active gravel are tightly linked. Sediment sampling revealed slight downstream fining in the surface grain size. Sediment size did not correlate with stream power.

Le travail réalisé dans cette thèse a consisté en le développement et l'utilisation des modèles numériques pour étudier les interactions multi-échelles entre une éolienne offshore et la dynamique locale océanique et sédimentaire. Dans une première partie, les interactions entre le système couplé océan-sédiment et le sillage atmosphérique généré par une turbine éolienne offshore sont étudiées à l'aide d'un modèle numérique 2D développé au cours de la thèse et écrit en fortran. Ce modèle résout les équations de Barré-De-Saint-Venant pour l'océan et l'équation d'Exner pour le sédiment. Dans un seconde partie, le phénomène d'affouillement 3D autour d'un cylindre vertical est étudié à l'aide d'un modèle diphasique eulérien-eulérien, sedFoam, implémenté dans la boîte à outils numériques OpenFOAM. L'approche diphasique permet de tenir compte des processus de petite échelle en s'affranchissant des hypothèses classiquement faites pour la modélisation du transport sédimentaire, notamment la corrélation locale entre le flux de sédiments et la contrainte de cisaillement fluide sur le fond.Concernant l'impact du sillage atmosphérique généré par une turbine, nous avons montré que celui-ci peut générer des allées tourbillonnaires dans l'océan. La dynamique turbulente océanique est alors contrôlée par le paramètre de sillage S=Cd D/H, où D est le diamètre du sillage au point d'impact sur la surface de l'océan, Cd est le coefficient de la loi de friction quadratique entre l'océan et le fond et H la profondeur de l'océan. Une paramétrisation des flux turbulents basée sur S est proposée pour modéliser la dynamique océanique dans des modèles à plus grande échelle de type RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes). Les résultats montrent que la dynamique océanique a une rétro-action sur la puissance du vent disponible. Les résultats montrent également que la dynamique sédimentaire instantanée est couplée à la dynamique océanique. Cependant, les variations de l'élévation du fond marin sont faibles (mm/mois) et l'impact morphodynamique du sillage est négligeable.Concernant la simulation diphasique de l'affouillement, après une validation du modèle sur des configurations 1D et 2D, des simulations tridimensionnelles autour d'une pile cylindrique sont présentées. Dans un premier temps, une configuration sans sédiments est réalisée afin de valider la capacité du modèle de turbulence URANS (Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes) développé dans ce travail de thèse à reproduire les structures tourbillonnaires responsables de l'affouillement comme le tourbillon en fer à cheval et le lâché tourbillonnaire à l'aval du cylindre. Ensuite, les premières simulations diphasiques 3D de l'affouillement autour du cylindre ont été réalisées en régime de transport de type lit-mobile. Ces simulations constitue un véritable challenge en terme calcul numérique à haute performance. La comparaison favorable des résultats de simulations avec les résultats expérimentaux de la littérature apporte la preuve de concept que l'approche diphasique est pertinente pour étudier des configurations d'écoulements complexes instationnaire et tridimensionnelle. Les résultats de simulation sont ensuite analysés pour étudier la relation entre le flux local de transport de sédiments, la valeur de la contrainte fluide sur le fond et la pente locale du lit sédimentaire. La déviation par rapport aux résultats obtenus en écoulement uniforme permet d'identifier les mécanismes prépondérant de transport associées au tourbillon en fer à cheval, à la pente de fond et aux tourbillons lâchés dans le sillage du cylindre. Les résultats obtenus montrent une sensibilité à la résolution numérique en particulier à l'aval du cylindre illustrant le besoin de réaliser des simulations des grandes échelles turbulentes diphasiques. / The work undertaken in this PhD thesis was to develop and use numerical models to investigate the multi-scale interactions between an offshore wind turbine and the local ocean and sediment dynamics. First, the interactions between the coupled ocean-sediment system and the atmospheric wake generated by an offshore wind turbine are investigated using an idealized two-dimensional model developed during this Phd thesis and written in fortran. The model integrates the shallow water equations for the ocean together with the Exner equation for the sediment bed. In a second part, the 3D scour phenomenon around a vertical cylinder in a steady current is studied using a two-phase flow eulerian-eulerian solver, sedFoam, written within the framework of the numerical toolbox OpenFOAM. The two-phase flow approach accounts for small-scale processes by avoiding the traditional assumptions made for sediment transport modeling, such as a local corre- lation between the sediment flux and the fluid bed shear stress.Regarding the atmospheric wake generated by a turbine, the results shows that its impact on the ocean’s surface can generate vortices. The resulting turbulent ocean dynamics is controlled by the wake parameter S = CdD/H, where D is the wake diameter at the impact location on the ocean surface, Cd is the quadratic friction coefficient between the ocean and the sediment and H is the oceanic layer depth. A turbulence parameterization based on S is proposed, allowing for upscaling simulations in larger scales Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) models. It is shown that the ocean dynamics has an effect on the available wind power. The results also show that the instantaneous sediment dynamics is strongly coupled with the ocean one but that the overall seabed elevation variations remain small (a few millimeters/month). The morphodynamic impact of the wake is thus negligible.Concerning the two-phase flow simulation of scour, sedFoam is first validated on 1D and 2D configurations. Then, 3D simulations around a vertical cylindrical pile are presented. At first, a validation of the Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) turbulence model developed in this work is performed on a configuration without sediment. The results show that the vortices structures responsible for scouring, the Horse Shoe Vortex (HSV) and the vortex-shedding in the lee of the cylinder are correctly reproduced. Then, 3D two-phase flow simulations of the scour around a cylindrical pile have been carried out in a live-bed configuration. This work is the first attempt to model 3D scour phenomenon using the two-phase flow approach. Such simulations represent a real challenge in terms of high performance computing. The good agreement between the numerical predictions and the literature experimental results provide the proof of concept that the two-phase flow approach can be used to study complex 3D and unsteady flow configurations. The relationship between the local bed shear stress, the sediment flux and the local sediment bed slope is further investigated. The deviation of the results from a uniform flow configuration is further analyzed to identify the relevant sediment transport mechanisms associated with the HSV, the slope in the scour mark and the vortex-shedding downstream of the cylinder. Finally, the numerical results show a grid sensitivity of the morphological predictions in the lee of the cylinder that are most probably related to small-scale resolved vortical structures. This highlights the need for two-phase flow Large Eddy Simulations on this configuration in the future.

abstract: This research examines lateral separation zones and sand bar slope stability using two methods: a parallelized turbulence resolving model and full-scale laboratory experiments. Lateral flow separation occurs in rivers where banks exhibit strong curvature, for instance canyon rivers, sharp meanders and river confluences. In the Colorado River, downstream Glen Canyon Dam, lateral separation zones are the principal storage of sandbars. Maximum ramp rates have been imposed to Glen Canyon Dam operation to minimize mass loss of sandbars. Assessment of the effect of restricting maximum ramp rates in bar stability is conducted using multiple laboratory experiments. Results reveal that steep sandbar faces would rapidly erode by mass failure and seepage erosion to stable slopes, regardless of dam discharge ramp rates. Thus, continued erosion of sand bars depends primarily of turbulent flow and waves. A parallelized, three-dimensional, turbulence resolving model is developed to study flow structures in two lateral separation zones located along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. The model employs a Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) technique where variables larger than the grid scale are fully resolved, while Sub-Grid-Scale (SGS) variables are modeled. The DES-3D model is validated using ADCP flow measurements and skill metric scores show predictive capabilities of simulated flow. The model reproduces the patterns and magnitudes of flow velocity in lateral recirculation zones, including size and position of primary and secondary eddy cells and return current. Turbulence structures with a predominately vertical axis of vorticity are observed in the shear layer, becoming three-dimensional without preferred orientation downstream. The DES-3D model is coupled with a sediment advection-diffusion formulation, wherein advection is provided by the DES velocity field minus particles settling velocity, and diffusion is provided by the SGS. Results show a lateral recirculation zone having a continuous export and import of sediment from and to the main channel following a pattern of high frequency pulsations of positive deposition fluxes. These high frequency pulsations play an important role to prevent an oversupply of sediment within the lateral separation zones. Improved predictive capabilities are achieved with this model when compared with previous two- and three-dimensional quasi steady and steady models. / Dissertation/Thesis / Appendix C Video 3.1 / Appendix C Video 3.2 / Appendix C Video 3.3 / Appendix C Video 3.4 / Appendix C Video 3.5 / Appendix C Video 3.6 / Appendix C Video 3.7 / Appendix F Video 4.1.a / Appendix F Video 4.1.b / Appendix F Video 4.2 / Doctoral Dissertation Geography 2015