The Flow and Stability Characteristics of Alluvial River Channels

Abstract

Alluvial rivers, insofar as they transport the material of which their channels are composed, possess the freedom to alter their geometry through the phenomena of erosion and deposition. River channels can be loosely divided into bed and bank regions, and geometry alteration phenomena can likewise be divided into bed processes and bank processes. An analysis of bank processes is dependent on a general knowledge of bed processes. Bed processes associated with wide, equilibrium rivers, in which bank processes are negligible, are examined in Chapter I of this report. An attempt is made to find the most general possible forms for sediment transport and bed resistance relationships. The forms are general enough so that existing equations can be expressed within their framework. Bank processes, and in particular bank erosion, are the subject of the remainder of the report.