FY 1978

Effects of hindered settling on sediment concentration profiles

Lavelle, J.W., and W.C. Thacker

J. Hydraul. Res., 16(4), doi: 10.1080/00221687809499612, 347–355 (1978)

Suspended sediment distributions which take into account concentration-dependent settling velocities have been derived. The distributions have been compared to and have been found to be in good agreement with the high concentration data of Einstein and Chien [1]. The analysis shows that concentrations at the sediment bed in the Einstein-Chien data are close to those of saturated sediments, which leads to the suggestion that the reference level in the distributions always be taken at the bed where the reference concentration is flow independent. A suspended sediment distribution constructed in this way guarantees a reasonable value for concentration near the bed and depends on two diffusivity parameters which the Einstein-Chien concentration data indicate are related.