Changes in climate extremes and their impacts on the natural physical environment: An overview of the IPCC SREX report

Data from laboratory flumes and natural streams show that the critical Shields stress for initial sediment motion increases with channel slope, which indicates that particles of the same size are more stable on steeper slopes. This observation is contrary to standard models that predict reduced stability with increasing slope due to the added downstream gravitational force. Processes that might explain this discrepancy are explored using a simple force-balance model, including increased drag from channel walls and bed morphology, variable friction angles, grain emergence, flow aeration, and changes to the local flow velocity and turbulent fluctuations. Surprisingly, increased drag due to changes in bed morphology does not appear to be the cause of the slope dependency because both the magnitude and trend of the critical Shields stress are similar for flume experiments and natural streams, and significant variations in bed morphology in flumes is unlikely. Instead, grain emergence and changes in local flow velocity and turbulent fluctuations seem to be responsible for the slope dependency due to the coincident increase in the ratio of bed-roughness scale to flow depth (i.e., relative roughness). A model for the local velocity within the grain-roughness layer is proposed based on a 1-D eddy viscosity with wake mixing. In addition, the magnitude of near-bed turbulent fluctuations is shown to depend on the depth-averaged flow velocity and the relative roughness. Extension of the model to mixed grain sizes indicates that the coarser fraction becomes increasingly difficult to transport on steeper slopes.

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Is the critical Shields stress for incipient sediment motion dependent on channel‐bed slope?

The objective of this review is to examine how the concept of plasticity is used in geophysical fluid dynamics. Rapid mass movements such as snow avalanches or debris flows involve slurries of solid particles (ice, boulder, clay, etc.) within an interstitial fluid (air, water). The bulk behavior of these materials has often been modeled as plastic materials, i.e., a plastic material yields and starts to flow once its stress state has significantly departed from equilibrium. Two plastic theories are of common use in fluid dynamics: Coulomb plasticity and viscoplasticity. These theories have little in common, since ideal Coulomb materials are two-phase materials for which pore pressure and friction play the key role in the bulk dynamics, whereas viscoplastic materials (e.g., Bingham fluids) typically behave as single-phase fluids on the macroscopic scale and exhibit a viscous behavior after yielding. Determining the rheological behavior of geophysical materials remains difficult because they encompass coarse, irregular particles over a very wide range of size. Consequently, the true nature of plastic behavior for geophysical flows is still vigorously debated. In this review, we first set out the continuum-mechanics principles used for describing plastic behavior. The notion of yield surface rather than yield stress is emphasized in order to better understand how tensorial constitutive equations can be derived from experimental data. The notion of single-phase or two-phase behaviors on the macroscopic scale is then examined using a microstructural analysis on idealized suspensions of spheres within a Newtonian fluid; for these suspensions, the single-phase approximation is valid only at very high or low Stokes numbers. Within this framework, the bulk stress tensor can also be constructed, which makes it possible to give a physical interpretation to yield stress. Most of the time, depending on the bulk properties (especially, particle size) and flow features, bulk behavior is either Coulomb-like or viscoplastic in simple-shear experiments. The consequences of the rheological properties on the flow features are also examined. Some remarkable properties of the governing equations describing thin layers flowing down inclined surfaces are discussed. Finally, the question of parameter fitting is tackled: since rheological properties cannot be measured directly in most cases, they must be evaluated from field data. As an example, we show that the Coulomb model successfully captures the main traits of avalanche motion, but statistical analysis demonstrates that the probability distribution of the friction coefficient is not universal.

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Plasticity and geophysical flows: A review

The dependence of chemical weathering rates on fluid residence time

This paper presents one of the first dedicated studies on mobile bed hydraulics of dam-break flow and the induced sediment transport and morphological evolution. A theoretical model is built upon the conservative laws of shallow water hydrodynamics, and a high-resolution numerical solution of the hyperbolic system is achieved using the total-variation-diminishing version of the second-order weighted average flux method in conjunction with the HLLC approximate Riemann solver and SUPERBEE limiter. It is found that a heavily concentrated and eroding wavefront first develops and then depresses gradually as it propagates downstream. In the early stage of the dam-break, a hydraulic jump is formed around the dam site due to rapid bed erosion, which attenuates progressively as it propagates upstream and eventually disappears. While the backward wave appears to migrate at the same speed as over a fixed bed, the propagation of the forward wavefront shows a complex picture compared to its fixed-bed counterpart as a result of the domination of rapid bed erosion initially, the density difference between the wavefront and the downstream ambient water in the intermediate period, and the pattern of the deformed bed profile in the long term. It is also found that the free surface profiles and hydrographs are greatly modified by bed mobility, which has considerable implications for flood prediction. The computed wave structure in the intermediate period exhibits great resemblance to available experiments qualitatively, and yet the existence of a shear wave is found in lieu of a secondary rarefaction postulated in an existing analysis. Finally, the use of the complete, rather than simplified, conservation equations is shown to be essential for correct resolution of the wave and bed structures, which suggests that previous models need reformulating.

Computational Dam-Break Hydraulics over Erodible Sediment Bed

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 Egashira's 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.

Experimental study on the entrainment of bed material into debris flow

Existing numerical river models are mostly built upon asynchronous solution of simplified governing equations. The strong coupling between water flow, sediment transport, and morphological evolution is thus ignored to a certain extent. An earlier study led to the development of a fully coupled model and identified the impacts of simplifications in the water-sediment mixture and global bed material continuity equations as well as of the asynchronous solution procedure for aggradation processes. This paper presents the results of an extended study along this line, highlighting the impacts on both aggradation and degradation processes. Simplifications in the continuity equations for the water-sediment mixture and bed material are found to have negligible effects on degradation. This is, however, in contrast to aggradation processes, in which the errors purely due to simplified continuity equations can be significant transiently. The asynchronous solution procedure is found to entail appreciable inaccuracy for both aggradation and degradation processes. Further, the asynchronous solution procedure can render the physical problem mathematically ill posed by invoking an extra upstream boundary condition in the supercritical flow regime. Finally, the impacts of simplified continuity equations and an asynchronous solution procedure are shown to be comparable with those of largely tuned friction factors, indicating their significance in calibrating numerical river models. It is concluded that the coupled system of complete governing equations needs to be synchronously solved for refined modeling of alluvial rivers.

Coupled and Decoupled Numerical Modeling of Flow and Morphological Evolution in Alluvial Rivers

The Tam Pokhari glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF), which occurred in 1998 in the Mt. Everest region of Nepal, was evaluated using hydrodynamic models to gain a better understanding of the flow behaviour. The flood wave was analysed separately under rigid and erodible boundary conditions. In both cases, the calculated dam-breach hydrograph, which had a peak discharge of about 10 000 m3/s, was routed through the Inkhu River, which originates from the lake. The morphologic changes along the river were also analysed and the results were compared with satellite images, field observations and recorded data. In the case of rigid boundaries, the routing procedure gradually attenuated the peaks of the hydrographs to account for hydraulic pooling in narrow gorges and storage in the channel. In the case of erodible boundaries, such effects were minimized due to the increment in channel capacity associated with erosion by debris flow. The study revealed that the GLOF event produced a large-scale debris flow. Additionally, the results revealed that erosion and deposition took place intermittently, but that approximately 440 000 m3 of sediment was deposited about 14 km downstream from the lake mouth. The calculated peak of the water and sediment mixture at 14·4 km was found to be 30 000 m3/s, which is almost 6 times as large as that observed when the rigid boundary conditions were used. Further, the increase in the peaks of the hydrographs due to sediment transport was the primary reason for the destruction associated with the GLOF. These findings suggest that the local sedimentology and topography, as well as other geo-hazard conditions in the area, should be carefully evaluated before recommending any control measures against GLOFs in the Himalayan region. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Hydrodynamic characteristics of the Tam Pokhari glacial lake outburst flood in the Mt. Everest region, Nepal

Constitutive Equations of Debris Flow and Their Applicability

. The present study describes entrainment 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 over erodible beds. Experimental results show that the erosion rate decreases monotonically with increase of sediment size, although erosion rate changes with sediment concentration of debris flow body. In order to evaluate critical condition of bed sediment entrainment, a length scale which measures an effective bed shear stress is introduced. The effective bed shear stress is defined as total shear stress minus yield stress on the bed surface. The results show that critical entrainment conditions can be evaluated well in terms of Shields curve using the effective bed shear stress instead of a usual bed shear stress.

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Shinji Egashira

Papers

Experimental study on the entrainment of bed material into debris flow

Coupled and Decoupled Numerical Modeling of Flow and Morphological Evolution in Alluvial Rivers

Hydrodynamic characteristics of the Tam Pokhari glacial lake outburst flood in the Mt. Everest region, Nepal

Constitutive Equations of Debris Flow and Their Applicability

Critical conditions of bed sediment entrainment due to debris flow