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Variation in sediment delivery ratios of grouped sediment in a braided reach owing to channel adjustments

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Abstract

Sediment delivery ratio (SDR) is a comprehensive indicator to evaluate the sediment transport at different time scales, which is closely related to the conditions of flow-sediment and channel boundary. The hydrological data and cross-sectional profiles in the braided reach of the Lower Yellow River from 1985 to 2020 were collected in this study, in order to investigate the variation in SDRs of grouped sediment in response to channel adjustments. The regularity of sediment discharge of grouped sediment was firstly analyzed, which verified the semi-theoretical sediment discharge relation. The effects of channel geometry and incoming sediment coefficient were investigated separately on the SDRs of grouped sediment in the braided reach, with negative correlations being developed. The SDR of suspended bed-material load was lower than 1.0 when the geomorphic coefficient was larger than 18 m− 0.5 in the whole braided reach. The relations for SDRs of grouped sediment were developed based on the initial sediment discharge relations, which considered the comprehensive influences of the upstream and channel boundary conditions. The proposed equations were calibrated and verified using the measurements in the braided reach. Calibration and verification results show that the determination coefficients of the comprehensive relations were improved, as compared with the relations merely considering a single parameter. The proposed relations relatively accurately predicted the variations in SDRs of grouped sediment in different reaches in the recent five years, which can be applied in engineering practice. In addition, the critical incoming sediment coefficient of suspended bed-material load increased by almost twice in response to the post-dam channel adjustments in case of equilibrium sediment transport.

Article highlights

  1. (i)

    The sediment discharge of fine fraction was totally depended on the upstream supply, and exerted an insignificant role in the channel evolution.

  2. (ii)

    the increases in incoming sediment coefficient and geomorphic coefficient exerted negative roles on the sediment delivery ratio of graded sediment;

  3. (iii)

    the critical incoming sediment coefficient increased by almost twice as the channel adjusted in the post-dam stage compared with the pre-dam stage.

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. U2243238 and U2243237).

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The authors have no financial or non-financial interests, which may be affected by the publication of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Water Resources Engineering and Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Yifei Cheng, Junqiang Xia, Meirong Zhou & Xiangyang Ge

  2. State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, 100048, China

    Jianguo Chen

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  1. Yifei Cheng
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Contributions

C: Conceptualization, Writing-Original draft preparation, Methodology and Formal analysis. X: Data curation, Writing-Review & Editing, Supervision, and Funding Acquisition. Z: Writing-Review & Editing and Visualization. Chen: Writing-Review & Editing and Funding Acquisition. G: Writing-Review & Editing. All co-authors contributed to the completion of the article.

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Correspondence to Junqiang Xia.

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Cheng, Y., Xia, J., Zhou, M. et al. Variation in sediment delivery ratios of grouped sediment in a braided reach owing to channel adjustments. Environ Fluid Mech (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10652-023-09936-y

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