Estimation of Concentration and Load of Suspended Bed Sediment in a Large River by Means of Acoustic Doppler Technology

The standard experimental methods used for sampling suspended loads in large rivers are usually time consuming, unsafe, rather expensive, and have a limited spatial resolution. Acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs), usually applied to measure the flow discharge, may also be used to assess the s...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Latosinski, Francisco Guillermo, Szupiany, Ricardo Nicolas, García, Carlos M., Guerrero, Massimo, Amsler, Mario Luis
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2014
País:Argentina
Recursos:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/31170
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/31170
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Sediment Transport
Acoustic Techniques
Sampling
River Systems
Suspended Loads
Suspended Sediment
Sediment Loads
Concentrated Loads
Doppler Systems
Bed Loads
Bed Materials
Flow Measurement
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.5
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
Descrição
Resumo:The standard experimental methods used for sampling suspended loads in large rivers are usually time consuming, unsafe, rather expensive, and have a limited spatial resolution. Acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs), usually applied to measure the flow discharge, may also be used to assess the suspended sediment concentration by analyzing the backscattering acoustic strength. Though important efforts have been dedicated to test this method, results are not as reliable as engineering practices require, especially in large fluvial systems. In this paper, the correlation between the corrected backscatter from a 1,200 kHz ADCP and the suspended concentration from a depth-integrated sampler is presented and discussed. Despite the assumptions required to utilize this method (i.e., monosized grain and homogeneous vertical concentration), the results showed acceptable differences when they were compared with traditional methods. An evaluation of the backscatter and attenuation of sound produced by fine and coarse material is presented. Finally, the total suspended load of bed sediment is assessed using moving-boat ADCP measurements and compared with results from the corresponding standard method. Differences are at most 46%.