Bank erosion in regulated navigable rivers

Banks constitute important areas for the river ecology since they provide a multitude of favourable conditions for flora and fauna. The hydromorphological diversity typical of these transitional zones between water and land, and the associated processes of erosion and accretion, make riverbanks vital for many aquatic and riparian plants and...

Bank Erosion Processes in Regulated Navigable Rivers

Vessel-induced waves affect the morphology and ecology of banks and shorelines around the world. In rivers used as waterways, ship passages contribute to the erosion of unprotected banks, but their short- and long-term impacts remain unclear. This work investigates the effects of navigation on bank erosion along a reach of the regulated Meuse...

Distinct patterns of bank erosion in a navigable regulated river

Distinct bankline patterns appeared after the removal of protection works along a navigable reach of the Meuse River. A series of oblique embayments now dominate the riverine landscape after ten years of bank erosion, but their location and asymmetry cannot be explained yet. This work analyses and integrates field measurements of flow, ship...

Morphological Adaptation of River Channels to Vegetation Establishment: A Laboratory Study

While the scientific community has long recognized that alluvial rivers are the product of interactions between flowing water and bed material transport, it is increasingly evident that vegetation mediates these interactions and influences the stream channel characteristics. In a novel set of mobile bed laboratory experiments with variable...

Analysis and modelling of river meandering

This thesis examines the morphological changes of non-tidal meandering rivers at the spatial scale of several meanders. With this purpose, a physics-based mathematical model, MIANDRAS, has been developed for the simulation of the medium-term to long-term evolution of meandering rivers. Application to several real rivers shows that MIANDRAS can...

Morphological Changes due to River Bank Protection

When bank protection works are constructed along an eroding outer bank, it is often observed that the bed along the outer bank becomes substantially deeper, sometimes causing the failure of the bank protection works themselves. Despite our awareness of this deepening phenomenon, its causes and quantitative estimation is still a matter of...

Maximum amplitude of river meanders

The prediction of planform changes is important for the site selection of structure like bridges or intakes. In the design of bank protection works it is indispensable to know future planform developments for the safety of structures and lands. The meander development process consists of translation and expansion of the bends due to bank erosion...

Oevererosie nevengeulen

Computer-simulated deformation of meandering river patterns

A new model for bed topography is developed herein which accounts for phase lag and the influence of the width to depth ratio. This model is used to analyze four sets of data: two from laboratory channels and two from natural channels. Good agreement is found between the actual and the predicted bed topography. An iterative, two-dimensional...