Bar pattern and sediment sorting in a channel contraction/expansion area
Application to the Loire River at Bréhémont (France)
Florian Cordier (EDF R&D LNHE - Laboratoire National d’Hydraulique et Environnement, Laboratoire d’Hydraulique Saint-Venant)
Pablo Tassi (EDF R&D LNHE - Laboratoire National d’Hydraulique et Environnement, Laboratoire d’Hydraulique Saint-Venant)
Nicolas Claude (EDF R&D LNHE - Laboratoire National d’Hydraulique et Environnement)
Alessandra Crosato (IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Environmental Fluid Mechanics)
Stéphane Rodrigues (UMR CNRS 7324 CITERES & Ecole Polytechnique de l’Université de Tours (Polytech Tours))
Damien Pham Van Bang ( Institut national de la recherche scientifique)
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Abstract
Bars are large sediment deposits alternating with deeper areas that arise from alluvial river bed instability and forcing. The present study aimed at investigating the combined influence of flow and longitudinal width variations on the co-evolution between bar pattern and sediment sorting in a sandy-gravel river reach. To this goal, a fully non-linear 2D numerical model was developed to reproduce the morphodynamic behavior of bars in a reach of the Loire River consisting in a typical channel expansion/contraction. Numerical results showed that varying water discharge promoted a competition between low and high bar modes: i.e., from alternate to multiple bar patterns. Low bar modes were associated with coarse sediment over bar tops and fine sediment in pools, and this sorting pattern was inverted for higher bar modes. Surface sediment was coarser and the degree of sediment sorting was greater after periods of low than high flow. Due to high sediment mobility, sediment sorting did not significantly modify bar morphodynamics.
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