Flow Around Islands in Rupert Bay: An Investigation of the Bed Friction Effect

Ingram, R. Grant; Chu, Vincent H.; ,

Flow Around Islands in Rupert Bay: An Investigation of the Bed Friction Effect

by R. Grant Ingram, McGill Univ, Montreal, Quebec, Canada,
Vincent H. Chu, McGill Univ, Montreal, Quebec, Canada,

Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Hydraulic Engineering

Abstract:

Aerial photographs of transverse shear flows around islands in Rupert Bay, a shallow and turbid estuary in northern Quebec, were studied for effect of bed friction. The island wake depends on the stability of transverse shear layers developed along the two sides of the island. Two basic patterns of wake flows were observed. A vortex wake was formed when transverse shear was large, as in flows around small islands. On the other hand, for small transverse shear, as in flows around large islands, the shear layers were stabilized by bottom friction and, in that case, a clear-water wake of low turbulence and low sediment concentration was observed. A wake stability parameter was introduced for wake classification. In Rupert Bay, vortex wakes were observed in nine out of twenty-seven events when the wake stability parameter was less than a critical value of about 0. 5.

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