This study focuses on the interaction of wash load particles with gravel bed rivers. The effects of excess fine sediment loading to streams on general water quality, contaminant transport, and benthic organism mortality has been well examined. A fundamental assumption in fluvial geomorphology and river engineering is that wash load particles ($d<63mu m$) do not deposit to stream beds, but are instead transported downstream until they deposit in reservoirs or estuaries. The goal of this study is to determine if wash load sized particles can deposit to gravel beds, where within the bed substrate deposition occurs, under what hydraulic conditions it occurs, and how the composition of the bed affects the spatial and temporal deposition pattern. Further, this study attempts to quantify the mass flux of wash load to the bed based on a simple mass conservation model using the aforementioned conditions as model parameters. This was accomplished through a series of experiments in which a mixture of pure kaolinite clay was allowed to deposit at constant shear over an acrylic, gravel, or sand-gravel mixture. Discharge was then increased to determine the effects of increased bed shear stress on deposited material and further wash load interaction with the bed.
Results indicate that wash load will deposit to acrylic, gravel, and sand-gravel beds during conditions where no bedload movement is occurring. Bed composition is the primary factor controlling the mass flux of wash load from the water column to the bed. Deposition on acrylic beds forms clay ripples which translate downstream, while deposition in porous beds occurs primarily within the bed substrate. Shear stress also affects mass flux and the magnitude of its effects are related to the bed composition. Discharge increases below the threshold of bedload movement only cause large scale entrainment of deposited particles over non-porous beds. Periods of higher discharge over porous beds result in continued deposition within the bed substrates.
This research enhances not only our knowledge of sediment processes within fluvial systems, but also allows for the quantification of the wash load portion of those processes given minimal initial condition information. The model developed here may be used within larger hydrologic models when examining contaminant spills or mass loading of stream networks with wash load to estimate the mass deposition to the bed. Instances where wash load is contaminated the mass of contaminated sediment retained by the bed is of great importance to local communities given a reliance of residents on that water source for water, livelihood, and recreation. / Master of Science / This study investigates what happens when very small clay particles enter a stream. Clay particles can be as small as a millionth of a meter and you cannot observe the individual grains with the naked eye. Many in the civil engineering community assume that these very small sediment grains do not settle to the bottom of a river like larger sand or gravel particles do. Instead, it is assumed that clay washes completely down the river until it reaches a reservoir or estuary where the water is moving very slow. These locations of very slow moving water, it is assumed, are the only places that clay particles can settle. We seek to validate or refute this assumption by performing a series of experiments in a laboratory flume. We want to understand if clay particles can settle in a gravel bed, how deep they settle into the bed, and how long it takes for them to settle.
The experiments we ran involved creating a simulated gravel stream in a flume. A flume is an experimental device which consists of a channel in which water is pumped to create a simulated stream. Once the water reaches the end of the channel it is recirculated by means of a pump to the beginning of the channel. Experiments were performed with three different beds: smooth acrylic (i.e. Plexiglas), gravel, and a sand-gravel mixture. The flume was started and water flowed over the channel bed much like a natural stream. Clay was then added to the water. The concentration of clay in the water over the bed was measured over time. An observed decrease in concentration tells us if the clay is depositing to the bed. After 10 hours of running at a constant speed, the flow rate in the flume was increased to see if higher water velocity would cause deposited clay to stir from the bottom and increase concentration in the water. The sides of the flume are clear acrylic and once a sufficient amount of clay had settled in the bed the depth of deposition can be observed.
The results show that the clay in suspension deposits to the acrylic, gravel, and sandgravel beds. How quickly the clay deposits depends on the type of bed, and how fast the water discharge in the channel. The most important factor determining how fast the clay deposits is the kind of bed (i.e. gravel, sand-gravel, etc.). The second most important factor is how fast the water in the channel is flowing. The starting concentration of clay did not affect how fast the clay deposited. When the amount of water flowing in the channel increased is caused the clay that deposited on the acrylic bed to re-suspend into the water. This was not the case for the gravel or sand-gravel beds.
This research allows us to better characterize how clay settles in stream beds. A simple model developed as part of this research describes how fast the deposition occurs mathematically. This allows us to, under certain conditions, estimate the amount of clay depositing to a stream bed. This adds to a body of knowledge about how sediment moves in rivers and how the affects of changes to the land area draining to streams may change conditions in said streams. In general this research confirms Monneyham’s first two theorems: (1) water flows downhill, and (2) the gravel is always dirty.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/84547 |
| Date | 20 February 2017 |
| Creators | Mooneyham, Christian David |
| Contributors | Civil and Environmental Engineering, Strom, Kyle Brent, Thompson, Theresa M., Hester, Erich T. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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