Mechanics of Sediment Transportation and Alluvial Stream Problems

The subjects of sediment transport and flow in alluvial streams are gaining importance with the increasing utilization of water resources. Considerable research has been done in sediment transportation and the problems related to alluvial streams in the past four decades by hydraulic engineers, geologists and researchers from other disciplines such as fluid mechanics. However, in spite of these efforts, the engineers understanding of this complicated branch of engineering, also known as fluvial hydraulics, is far from satisfactory. In many cases this understanding has not reached such a stage that the pertinent material can be woven into a coherent and unified theory. In this book we have attempted to summarize and synthesize the vast amount of information on sediment transport and problems related to alluvial streams scattered in numerous journals, monographs and other research publications. The contents of the book have been divided into two parts. The first part consisting of eight chapters deals with the theory of sediment transport and includes such aspects as properties of sediments, incipient motion condition, flow regimes, resistance to flow, bed load transport, suspended load transport and total load transport. The second part consisting of another eight chapters deals with applied problems such as sediment samplers and sampling, stable channels, alluvial streams, variations in stream bed elevation and plan forms, sediment control, river training, and miscellaneous problems such as model studies, mud flows, density currents and sediment transport through pipes.