Validation of A Novel, Shear Reynolds Number Based Bed Load Transport Calculation Method for Mixed Sediments Against Field Measurements

In this study, the field measurement-based validation of a novel sediment transport calculation method is presented. River sections with complex bed topography and inhomogeneous bed material composition highlight the need for an improved sediment transport calculation method. The complexity of the morphodynamic features can result in the simultaneous appearance of the gravel and finer sand dominated sediment transport (e.g. parallel bed armoring and siltation) at different regions within a shorter river reach. For the improvement purpose of sediment transport calculation in such complex river beds, a novel sediment transport method was elaborated. The base concept of it is the combined use of two already existing empirical sediment transport models. The method was already validated against laboratory measurements. The major goal of this study is the verification of the novel method with a real river case study. The combining of the two sediment transport models is based on the implementation of a recently presented classification method of the locally dominant sediment transport nature (gravel or sand transport dominates). The results are compared with measured bed change maps. The verification clearly refers to the meaningful improvement in the sediment transport calculation by the novel manner in case of spatially varying bed content.