Modelling sediment transport over partially non‐erodible bottoms

In‐depth‐averaged and cross‐section‐averaged morphodynamic models, based on explicit time integration, it may happen that the computed bed level becomes lower than the top level of a non‐erodible layer (e.g. concrete, bedrock or armoured layer). This is a standard pitfall, which has been addressed in different ways. In this paper, we present an original approach for avoiding computation of non‐physical bed levels, using an iterative procedure to correct the outward sediment fluxes. The procedure is shown to be computationally efficient while it achieves a high accuracy in terms of mass conservation. We compare our original approach with the existing Struiksma's method and with a reformulation of the problem in terms of mathematical optimization of a linear or nonlinear objective function under linear constraints.