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Polydisperse suspensions: Erosion, deposition, and flow capacity

Dorrell, R. M.; Hogg, A. J.; Pritchard, D.

Authors

A. J. Hogg

D. Pritchard



Abstract

Deposition from particle-laden flows is often described in terms of the capacity and competence of the flow, but robust definitions of these terms have proved elusive. In this paper we provide a mathematical modeling framework within which erosion and deposition of polydisperse sediment, and thus flow capacity and competence, can be rigorously defined. This framework explicitly captures the coupling between the suspension and an active layer of sediment at the top of the bed, and is capable of describing both depositional and erosional flows over both erodible and nonerodible beds. Crucially, the capacity of a flow is shown to depend on the erosional and depositional history because these processes determine the composition of the active layer. This dependence is explored within models of bidisperse and polydisperse suspensions. It is further demonstrated that monodisperse representations of suspended sediment transport may severely underpredict actual flow capacity. The polydisperse model is validated against recent experimental studies of the evolution of suspended material in waning turbulent flows, and is used to demonstrate that loss of capacity is the principal driver of sediment deposition. ©2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

Citation

Dorrell, R. M., Hogg, A. J., & Pritchard, D. (2013). Polydisperse suspensions: Erosion, deposition, and flow capacity. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 118(3), 1939-1955. https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrf.20129

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 9, 2013
Online Publication Date Sep 19, 2013
Publication Date 2013-09
Deposit Date Aug 12, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface
Print ISSN 2169-9011
Electronic ISSN 2169-9011
Publisher American Geophysical Union
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 118
Issue 3
Pages 1939-1955
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrf.20129
Keywords Erosion; Deposition; Capacity; Competence
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/733511
Publisher URL https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jgrf.20129

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Copyright Statement
©2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.





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