Rill flow resistance law under sediment transport

Abstract

Purpose: In this paper, a deduced flow resistance equation for open-channel flow was tested using measurements carried out in mobile bed rills with sediment-laden flows and fixed bed rills. The main aims were to (i) assess the effect of sediment transport on rill flow resistance, and (ii) test the slope-flow velocity relationship in fixed bed rills. Methods: The following analysis was developed: (i) a relationship between the Γ function of the velocity profile, the rill slope and the Froude number was calibrated using measurements carried out on fixed bed rills; (ii) the component of Darcy-Weisbach friction factor due to sediment transport was deduced using the corresponding measurements carried out on mobile bed rills (grain resistance and sediment transport) and the values estimated by flow resistance equation (grain resistance) for fixed bed rills in the same slope and hydraulic conditions; (iii) the Γ function relationship was calibrated using measurements carried out on mobile bed rills and the data of Jiang et al. (2018). Results: This analysis demonstrated that the effect of sediment transport on rill flow resistance law is appreciable only for 7.7% of the examined cases and that the theoretical approach allows for an accurate estimate of the Darcy-Weisbach friction factor. Furthermore, for both fixed and mobile beds, the mean flow velocity was independent of channel slope, as suggested by Govers (1992) for mobile bed rills. Conclusions: The investigation highlighted that the effect of sediment transport on rill flow resistance is almost negligible for most of the cases and that the experimental procedure for fixing rills caused the unexpected slope independence of flow velocity.