Experimental observations on long-term behavior of migrating alternate bars

Migrating alternate bars form in alluvial channels as a result of morphodynamic instability. Extensive literature can be found on their origin and short-term development, but their long-term evolution has been poorly studied so far. In particular, it is not clear whether they eventually reach an equilibrium shape, since short-term experiments...

Long-duration laboratory experiment of slow development of steady alternate bars

The current view is that migrating bars are the result of morphodynamic instability in straight or mildly-sinuous alluvial channels and are therefore an inevitable feature of alluvial river beds. Steady bars, instead, require some external forcing or specific morphodynamic conditions to develop. Yet, recent numerical tests showed that steady...