Aysegul Ozgenc Aksoy

Experimental Study of the Coarse Surface Development Effect on the Bimodal Bed-Load Transport under Unsteady Flow Conditions

AbstractGravel-bed rivers display a surface layer that is coarser than the substrate lining below this armored surface. The armored layer that is developed under certain flow conditions may be attributed as water-worked sediment bed. Both the threshold of incipient motion and the bed-load transport are affected by the presence of this layer. In this study, the coarse surface development and its effect on the sediment transport were investigated experimentally in a rectangular flume. Four antecedent flow rates were combined with an input hydrograph, without sediment feeding. The reference shear stress of individual fractions and the grain-size distribution were determined after the development of the coarse surface due to the antecedent flow. Then a triangular-shaped hydrograph was generated for both the intact surface and the coarse surface cases. It was seen that the maximum bed-load transport values obtained in unsteady flow experiments were highly dependent on the coarse surface formed by the anteceden...

Study of the time-dependent clear water scour around circular bridge piers

Abstract The local scour around bridge piers influences their stabilities and plays a key role in the bridge failures. The estimation of the maximum possible scour depth around bridge piers is an important step in the design of the bridge pier foundations. In this study, the temporal evolution of local scour depths as well as the equilibrium scour depths were analyzed. The experiments were carried out in a rectangular flume by using uniform sediment with median diameter of 3.5 mm and geometric standard deviation of 1.4. The diameters of the tested circular bridge piers were 40 mm, 80 mm, 150 mm and 200 mm. The flow and scour depths were determined by ultrasonic sensors. The experiments were realized in clear water conditions with various constant flow rates. The experimental findings were compared with those calculated from some empirical equations existing in the literature. A new empirical relation involving the flow intensity, the relative water depth and the dimensionless time is also introduced. The advantage of this proposed relation is that the only parameter requiring the calculation is the critical velocity, other parameters being known geometric and hydraulic parameters. The performance of this relation was tested by using experimental data available in the literature, and a satisfactory compatibility was revealed between the experimental and numerical results.

Investigation of sea level trends and the effect of the north atlantic oscillation (NAO) on the black sea and the eastern mediterranean sea

The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) has significant effects on sea levels, weather, and climate. In this study, the sea level trends and the effects of the North Atlantic Oscillation Indices (NAOI) on annual mean sea level data were assessed for the Black Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The trends of sea level and NAOI were determined using Mann-Kendall dimensionless z statistics. Generally, upward sea level trends were detected for the Black Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. In the Black Sea, significant and continuous upward trends were detected after the year 1950. Weaker trends were detected for the Eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. Sea level trends were correlated with trends in NAO indices; negative correlations were detected for the Black Sea, whereas positive correlations were found for the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Paired t tests were performed to determine the turning points for all sea level data sets. The value of t was positive for all data sets, which means that the mean value of the data set before the turning point was smaller than the mean value of the data set after the turning point.

THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF TRANSIENT FLOWS DUE TO PUMP RUN DOWN

The aim of this study is to search the unsteady flows due to shut-off of the pump. Pressures have been measured at the immediate outlet of the pump. Valve and elbow head losses were determined for different steady state discharges. Thus, the numerical values and empirical expressions for loss coefficients versus velocities were derived. Numerical results were obtained by computer program written in Fortran language using the method of characteristics. In numerical solution, the pump behavior which constitutes the upstream boundary condition is expressed by means of head balance and speed change equations written in terms of dimensionless parameters. An acceptable agreement is observed between theoretical and experimental results. Since the discrepancy between theoretical and experimental results is negligible, one can deduce that the used method and approaches are convenient and they can be applied to real-life engineering projects.