Análisis de transporte de carga de lecho para partículas gruesas

Abstract

The development of an equation that allows the accurate determination of bed load transport rates for rivers with rugged topography and presence of coarse sediment in its bed is necessary for the better development of design parameters. Current equations provided and developed in multiple literature sources overestimate the range of bed load transport when equations are applied to specific conditions that differ from those used in the originals studies, such as laboratory channels, low slopes, limited flow ranges, etc. This all generates unreliable results. For this reason, this current study is aimed towards determining transport capacity of shallow flows in high slope channels and different particle sizes through the development of an equation for the processes related to the bottom transport of mountain rivers. Laboratory simulations and a regression analysis of the data were conducted. Additionally, a comparative study of the results obtained in the laboratory with the potential theoretical rates that projected several bed load transport equations available in the literature were carried out. The study established that the developed equation, determined experimentally, keeps a high similarity to the values reported by the empirical equations of Yalin (1963) and Parker (1979) with a similarity of 97% and 92% respectively. Although the relationship determined by the development of this new equation represents an improved alternative for determining bed load transport rates in mountain beds with the presence of coarse sediment, further studies using of more real conditions is still necessary. However, the empirical model of the present study can constitute a solid starting point to improve the accuracy in estimation of transport rates.