Role of secondary circulation on bank erosion in a large amplitude meandering laboratory channel

Abstract

This paper reports peculiar results of experimental investigation on the evolution of flow secondary circulation motion along a meander wave. The experiments have been conducted in a large amplitude meandering laboratory channel for two values of the width-to-depth ratio. Attention is focalised on how secondary motion affects the bank shear stress distribution, influencing the bank stability. The analysis essentially highlights that, especially for small width-to-depth ratio, as the channel curvature increases besides the classical central-region secondary circulation cell a counter-rotating circulation cell forms in the outer-bank region. Such counter-rotating circulation cell allows to obtain small values of the bank shear stress at the outer bank.