Takahiro Itoh

Experimental study on the entrainment of bed material into debris flow

The present study describes entraining characteristics of bed material into debris flow, based on flume tests, numerical and dimensional analyses. Flume tests are conducted to investigate influences of bed sediment size on erosion rate by supplying debris flows having unsaturated sediment concentration onto erodible beds. Experimental results show that the relative erosion rate, E/E0, decreases monotonically with increase of relative sediment size, d/d0, although E/E0 changes slightly with sediment concentration of debris flow. Herein, E is the erosion rate of bed sediment of size, d, E0 is the erosion rate when solid particle size, d0, of debris flow, are the same of the erodible bed material. According to the relation between E/E0 and d/d0, erosion rate, E, can be estimated by using Egashiras formula for E0. Therefore, the validity of erosion rate formula for E0 is tested by solving numerically for debris flow characteristics in terms of governing equations. In addition, critical size of bed sediment entrainment is discussed by introducing non-dimensional effective bed shear stress which is formulated by using fluid shear stress (total shear stress minus yield stress), bed sediment size, d, specific weight of sediment particle in water and acceleration due to gravity, and it is found that the critical non-dimensional effective shear stress takes a value similar to critical Shields parameter for bed load movement.

Transition Mechanism of Debris Flows Over Rigid Bed to Over Erodible Bed

Abstract In debris flows over erodible beds, the kinematic conditions at the bed surface, such as velocity and velocity gradient, are determined by the dynamic condition that the driving force must be equal to the yield stress at the bed surface. In debris flows over rigid beds, on the other hand, kinematic quantities depend on such conditions as bed slope, sediment discharge rate, static friction angle of sediment and friction angle of grain to the bed surface. In the present study, the differences between debris flows over erodible and rigid beds as well as the transition between the two are analyzed theoretically by solving for velocity and sediment concentration profiles. An important difference between the two lies in the shear stress distributions near the bed. The velocity gradient takes a finite value in the case of a rigid bed, and zero in the case of an erodible bed, which causes several different features in the profiles of velocity, and sediment concentration, and correspondingly in the flow resistance. The theoretical results are verified by flume data.

Development of new sensor systems for continuous bedload monitoring using a submerged load-cell system (SLS): Development of new sensor systems for continuous bedload monitoring

It is important to evaluate bedload discharge and temporal changes of the bed surface, and bed deformation can be estimated during floods if the bedload discharge is properly evaluated in an arbitrary cross-section. With the exception of grain size and its distribution within the bedload, bedload discharge has been measured using both direct and indirect methods. Bedload slot is a direct method but cannot be used to measure bedload during a flood because of volume limitations. Indirect methods require correlation between the signals and sediment volume measured using another method. In the present study, a small, automatically recording bedload sensor with an iron plate and a pair of load cells is developed in order to evaluate not only large particles but also sand particles as bedload. Bedload mass is calculated by integrating with respect to both the velocity of sediment particles and the averaged particle weight as measured by a pair of load cells, and, as an example, the velocity is estimated by the cross-correlation function of weights measured by load cells. The applicability of the proposed sensor is discussed based on the results of flume tests in the laboratory (2014) and the observation flume of the Hodaka Sedimentation Observatory of Kyoto University in Japan (2015). The system was installed in the observation flume in November of 2012, and flume data were obtained using natural sediment particles. In particular, it was difficult to estimate the velocity of averaged bedload particles, and it was better to apply a cross-correlation function in the laboratory tests. However, it appears that the previous estimation can estimate these velocities in the observation flume using a connecting tube and submerged load-cell systems. Copyright

Development and installation of bedload monitoring systems with submerged load cells

Bedload governs riverbed channel variations and morphology, it is necessary to determine bedload discharge through an arbitrary cross section in a mountain river. A new system with submerged load cells has been developed to directly measure bedload discharge. The system consists of: (1) an iron box which is 1 m long, 0.5 m wide and 0.1 m in depth, (2) two submerged load cells 0.7 m apart, (3) a pressure sensor and, (4) an electromagnetic velocity meter. This system has been designed to exclude the effect of the hydraulic pressure of water on direct measurements of bedload particle weight. Initial tests in a laboratory were conducted to examine the accuracy of measurements with the system under aerial conditions. The system has been installed in the supercritical flume in Ashi-arai-dani River of the Hodaka Sedimentation Observatory of the Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI) of Kyoto University to obtain bedload discharge under natural conditions. Flume tests were conducted in this channel by artificial supply of uniform sediment particles of several grain sizes. The average velocity of the sediment particles near the bed was estimated using cross-correlation functions for weight waves obtained by the two load cells. Bedload discharge calculations were based on time integration of the product of sediment velocity and sediment weight obtained by the two load cells. This study clarifies the reasons why bedload measurements are difficult, and provides some solutions using the monitoring systems with submerged load cells through the field measurements. Additionally, the applicability of bedload measurement with the submerged load cells is explained based on experimental artificial sediment supply data.