Using the SedBed Monitor to Measure Bed Load

by Roger A. Kuhnle, USDA - Agricultural Research Service, Oxford, United States,
Robert W. Derrow, II, USDA - Agricultural Research Service, Oxford, United States,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Fundamentals and Advancements in Hydraulic Measurements and Experimentation

Abstract:

An acoustic distance measuring device (SedBed Monitor) was developed to accurately measure bed surface transects in a sediment and water recirculating flume. From these transects the rate of bed load sediment transport was calculated as the product of the mean migration rate of the bed forms, the mean height of the bed forms, the density of the sediment, and a constant related to the shape of the bed forms. The sediment transport rates calculated from the bed surface transects were very close to mean transport rates measured using a density cell connected to the flume return pipe. Using bed surface transects to measure sediment transport rates has the advantage of a much shorter period of time necessary to obtain an accurate average transport rate when compared to conventional methods.

Subject Headings: Sediment transport | Bed materials | Distance measurement | Flow measurement | Transport rates | Bed loads | Stream channels

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