Avulsions in a Simulated Large Lowland Braided River

Haiyan Yang (), Binliang Lin () and Jianjun Zhou
Additional contact information
Haiyan Yang: South China Agricultural University
Binliang Lin: Tsinghua University
Jianjun Zhou: Tsinghua University

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), 2018, vol. 32, issue 7, No 6, 2314 pages

Abstract: Abstract The understanding of the complicated braiding mechanisms in braided rivers is closely related to avulsions. They control the channel generation, migration and disappearance in large lowland braided rivers, and are considered to be the key factor that keeps the river maintaining a dynamic braided pattern. However, their occurring processes and mechanisms are still not well understood due to the lack of detailed measurements with sufficient temporal and spatial data covering multiple bifurcations. In the present study, a numerical model based on the physical process of hydrodynamics and sediment transport is used to simulate the suspended sediment transport and river channel evolution in braided rivers. The model predicted braiding processes are comparable to those observed in nature. Efforts are made to investigate the morphological processes that are key for river braiding. Three types of avulsions observed in natural rivers have been identified in the model predicted river and their evolution processes and controlling factors are examined based on the predicted flow velocity, sediment concentration, bed elevation and sediment size distribution. It was found that, a curving channel bend is the key factor in introducing a constriction avulsion, while the choking avulsion and apex avulsion are controlled by the water surface slope and bed elevation. They are mostly affected by the upstream channel pattern changes.

Keywords: Braided river; Avulsion; Braiding mechanisms; Non-uniform suspended sediment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11269-018-1930-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:waterr:v:32:y:2018:i:7:d:10.1007_s11269-018-1930-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11269

DOI: 10.1007/s11269-018-1930-8

Access Statistics for this article

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) is currently edited by G. Tsakiris

More articles in Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) from Springer, European Water Resources Association (EWRA)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().