Experimental study of obstacle and bed roughness effects on behavior of turbidity current

Abstract

Laboratory experiments were carried out to study the behavior of turbidity current under subcritical approach flow condition. In order to study the effects of solid obstacle and bed roughness on turbidity current, 24 experiments were conducted. Two trapezoidal macro-roughness elements with 0.01 m and 0.03 m height and three triangular obstacles with 0.1 m to 0.3 m height were used. The parameters such as front velocity, velocity profiles, body height, flow discharge, suspended load transport rate and efficiency of the obstacle were determined. It was found that under subcritical flow regime, the main portion of the turbidity current over the rough bed is controlled, if the obstacle height is 2–3 times of the body height. The growth of the front height depends on the inlet sediment concentration, the roughness elements and the obstacle height. The front velocity upstream of the obstacle over the smooth bed is independent of the obstacle height and significantly influenced by roughness elements. Simultaneous use of the bed roughness and obstacle significantly reduces the front velocity downstream of the obstacle. The flow discharge per unit width significantly decreases downstream of the obstacle. Simultaneous use of an obstacle and roughness elements decreases the flow discharge per unit width by about 90%. An obstacle with height equal to 0.75 of the initial height of the turbidity current with the smooth bed blocks about 65% of the suspended sediment. While, simultaneous use of the obstacle and the roughness elements blocks about 95% of the suspended sediment.