Hes 056
Hes 056
Hes 056
Marcelo H. Garcia
David M. Admiraal
Jose Rodriguez
Fabian Lopez
Sponsored by:
April 1998
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ............................................................................. 1
.
3 Shear Stress Footprints of the Barge Tow Model ............................... 7
3 3
3 .3 . Ensemble averaged shear stress distributions ........................... 10
3 . 9. Conclusions .................................................................. 34
navigation traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
passage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
6. References .........................,
,,..........................................
, 85
List of Figures
Figure 3.2 Isometric drawing showing where shear stress has been
Measured . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
stress footprints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Figure 3.14 Dimensionless bow shear stress footprint for upbound tows ......
Figure 3 15 Downbound run C dimensionless stern shear stress footprint ..... 27
Figure 3.16 Downbound run D dimensionless stern shear stress footprint .....
Figure 3.17 Upbound run C dimensionless stern shear stress footprint ........
Figure 3.18 Comparison of measured velocity and log-law velocity profile ...
Figure 4.4 Ensemble averages of sensors 1. 2 and 3 in the propeller part .........
Figure 4.18 Estimates of <z>. z'. S and F corresponding to test #2 of the HSL
experlment s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Figure 4.19 Estimates of <T>. T'. S and F corresponding to test #3 of the HSL
experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Figure 4.2 1 Estimates of <T>. T+. S and F corresponding to test #5 of the HSL
experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Figure 5.7 Wall shear stress and entrainment produced by a tow-barge passage 76
List of Tables
Table 3.4 Peak shear stress used to non-dimensionalize stern footprints ....
Table 4.3 Characteristics of the shear stress signal for the WES experiment: . 38
Table 4.4 Characteristics of the shear stress signal for the HSL experiments . 54
vii
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Motivation
A number of studies have been conducted to determine the flow field underneath
barge tows, and the role barge tows play in the resuspension and transport of suspended
sediment (Bhowmik et al, 1996; Mazumder et al, 1993; Maynord, 1990). These studies
have primarily focused on velocity distributions and field concentration measurements.
The primary objective of this study is to characterize the bed shear stress pattern
produced by a barge tow for a wide range of test conditions. The bed shear stress
patterns are intended for use with sediment entrainment models for estimating the overall
suspended sediment load produced by a passing barge tow, and also for predicting the
riverbed scour caused by the tow.
The shear stress footprints were gathered for a 1:25 scale model of an actual barge
tow in the Navigation Effects Flume at Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg,
Mississippi. Shear stresses were gathered using hot-film shear stress sensors. Operation
and calibration of these sensors is discussed in Chapter 2 Results of the experiments are
presented in Chapter 3. Several realizations were performed for each test condition, and
ensemble averages of these realizations are presented. In addition, an attempt is made to
non-dimensionalize the shear stress footprints, both spatially and temporally. In Chapter
4, statistical characteristics of the shear stress distributions are analyzed. Finally, in
Chapter 5 examples of field application of the shear stress distributions are given.
2.- SHEAR STRESS SENSORS
Where z is the wall shear stress, Ebis the bridge voltage, AT, is the difference in
temperature between the sensor and the fiee stream, and A, B, m, and AT, are constants.
AT, has been added to Eq. 2.1 for convenience and has no effect on the results as long as
it is held constant. For our experiments AT, was taken to be the operating temperature
minus 20" C. The dependence of B on AT, has been ignored in Eq. 2.1. Often, m is set
equal to 3, but according to Bruun (1995) m increases with an increase in thermal
conductivity between the fluid and the substrate on which the sensor is mounted.
The pressure gradient in the duct is directly related to the wall shear stress as shown
by Eq. 2.2.
a
T=-R,-(~+~h) (2.2)
ax
In which, & is the hydraulic radius of the duct, and P + yh is the potential head of the
fluid. Shear stress calibrations were also done in a second duct, shown in Figure 2.2.
The second duct is similar to the first duct, but has a height of 10 cm (3.94 in.) and a
width of 30 cm (1 1.81 in.). This aspect ratio of 3 : 1 is not enough to guarantee two
dimensional flow, but the flow within the duct is close enough to two dimensional to
provide reliable measurements of the shear stress. The shear stress is measured the same
way as it was measured in the first duct. The second duct has a larger hydraulic radius
than the first duct. Thus, according to Eq. 2.2, the pressure gradient will be lower in the
second duct than in the first duct for the same shear stress. In addition, the Reynolds
number of the duct will be higher for the same shear stress.
Figure 2.2 Shear stress calibration duct 2
Even with special mounting plates for the sensors there was some concern that
moving the sensors from the calibration ducts to the experimental facility would change
the calibration of the sensors. In order to address this concern, some sensor calibrations
were performed in both the first and second ducts and the calibration curves were
compared. The two calibration curves were closely matched (Admiraal, 1997),
increasing confidence in the calibration procedure.
Two sets of data were gathered at WES. The set gathered on the first trip was
incomplete because of technical problems, so a second set was also gathered. Calibration
of the shear stress sensors was performed in duct 1 for the set gathered on the first trip,
and in duct 2 for the set gathered on the second trip. A typical calibration curve is shown
in Figure 2.3. For the second data set a value of 5 was used for m so that the curve was
nearly linear when 21f5was plotted against ~ b ~ .
Figure 2.3 Calibration of Sensor 1, second data set, operating resistance 4.9 7
A, B, and m are given for the four sensors in Tables 2.1 and 2.2 for the first and
second sets of data. Note that the sensors used are not the same for both data sets.
Replacement and repair was necessary for several of the sensors because of damage to
the sensors during use. In addition, multiple operating resistances were used for the
second dataset since some bubbling problems were encountered.
Table 2.1 Calibration parameters, first h t a set
I Sensor / T S I S e r i a l l Operating I Operating / A / B IMI
No. No. Resist. (51) Temperature ("C)
1 968178 5.49 66.7 0.1 158 -2.3894 3
3.1. Introduction
In order to determine the amount of sediment moved by the passage of a barge tow it
is necessary to determine the bed shear stress distributions caused by the tow. In this
section the shear stress footprints of barges are given for a number of different flow
conditions and barge velocities. The footprints were measured for a 1:25 scale model of
a 3 by 5 barge tow in a basin with a hydraulically smooth bed. An attempt is made to
make the characteristics of the footprints dimensionless so that they may be used for
many different conditions.
the model, U is the velocity of the model barge tow, and V is the velocity of the model
For each of the runs in the eight normal tests, the spanwise distribution of shear
stresses underneath the barge tow was measured with three shear stress sensors (The
fourth, outermost shear stress sensor did not operate properly). Positioning of the sensors
is shown in Figures 3.1 and 3.2. The shear stress probes used to gather the data are one-
dimensional and only give the shear stress in the streamwise direction.
Figure 3.1 Schematic of shear stress measurement locations. Shear stress was
measured along lines 1 - 6for all ofthe normal tests. Shear stress was also measured
along lines 7 and 8for the Upbound D test. Shear stress was only measured along line 3
for the PDF test. Positions 1 through 8 correspond to -1.3, 5.1, 11.4, 17.8, 24.1, 30.5,
43.2, and 55.9 cm @om the barge centerline, respectively.
Figure 3.2 Isometric drawing showing where shear stress has been measured
Shear stresses were measured on one side of the barge tow centerline only. This was
done under the assumption that the shear stress distribution can be mirrored over the tow
centerline. Since two barge tow alignments were used for each of the eight tests, there
are six locations for which the shear stress has been measured over the time of the barge
passage. The primary locations where shear stress has been measured are -1.3, 5.1, 11.4,
17.8, 24.1, and 30.5 cm from the centerline of the tow. The sensor reading taken at 114
cm from the centerline is located directly under the axis of one of the propellers. The last
upbound test contains one additional set of shear stresses at distances of 3 0.5, 43.2, and
During the eight normal tests, the sensors are always located 10.2, 22.9, and 35.6 cm
from the thalweg of the river model; only the boat alignment is changed to get the
spanwise shear stress distribution described above. The test used to compute the
probability density function (PDF) has all four sensors aligned in the streamwise
direction. The PDF test data was gathered with the axis of the port propeller passing over
all four sensors. This was done in order to provide insight into the nature of the shear
In addition to the shear stress measurements the water velocity above Sensor 1 was
measured at the three largest depths. Velocities were not measured for the smallest depth
because of limited model boat clearance. The velocity was measured in the streamwise
Six or more runs were performed for each set of sensor positions. Since most of the
tests had two sets of sensor positions this required twelve or more runs for each set of test
conditions. The result was a minimum of six shear stress distributions for each of the six
sensor locations and for each of the test conditions. One of the ways to extract the mean
shear stress distribution from the test runs is to ensemble average the runs. This was
done for all of the sensor locations and all of the test conditions. Figures 3.3 through 3.10
show the ensemble averaged shear stress distributions for each of the sensor locations in
First, the shear stress distribution caused by the bow of the barge tow is nearly constant
across the entire bow. There is variation in the shear stress footprints observed across the
front of the bow, but this is almost entirely caused by differences in sensor calibration.
This is quite apparent since the shear stress footprint of the bow measured at different
spanwise locations does not change as long as the same sensor is used for all the
measurements. Test W D has one spanwise location where the shear stress was
I 5
Ti- PI 0
I I , I I
Ti- P4 0
measured with two different sensors. There was a significant difference between the bow
shear stress measured with the two different sensors that can be entirely attributed to
calibration differences between the two sensors. Each of the two sensors used for the
redundant measurement is used to measure shear stress at two other locations for the
same test conditions. The shear stresses measured by the sensors are independent of
location.
The footprints caused by the stern are more complicated than those caused by the
bow. The stern footprints for the two deepest downbound tests and the deepest upbound
test do not vary significantly in the spanwise direction. Tests with shallower depths do
vary significantly in the spanwise direction; For these tests the shear stress is highest
immediately behind the propellers and tapers off to the outside edge of the barge. The
width of the footprint following the stern does not appear to be very large. Apparently,
there are two effects causing the bed shear stress at the stern. The first is the shape of the
stern, and the second is the propellers. For the largest depth the propeller jets attach to
the water surface and do not significantly affect the bed shear stress.
A second thing that is shown in Figures 3.3 through 3.10 is that the bow shear stress
distribution is quite smooth. There is remarkably little variation between the shear
stresses measured at the bow for different test runs, and the ensemble average standard
deviation of the bow wave is quite small for most of the runs. On the other hand, the
region after the passage of the stem is extremely turbulent. In order to get a smooth
ensemble average for the portion of the shear stress footprint that occurs after passage of
the stern a much larger number of test runs would have been necessary.
3.4. Dimensional analysis
In this section, the ensemble averaged test results are used for a dimensional
analysis. Figure 3.1 1 shows the variables that should be considered for dimensional
analysis of the shear stress footprints. Not all of the variables are relevant for the current
set of conditions. Herein, the important variables will be determined, and an attempt will
be made to non-dimensionalize the shear stress footprints. The variables that are
important for dimensional analysis of the bow wave are not the same as the ones that are
important for dimensional analysis of the stern shear stress. Consequently, these two
4 L b
g gravitational acceleration
H water depth
L length of tow
t time
u boat velocity
v water velocity
w boat width
v
water viscosity
P water density
For both the bow and the stern dimensional analysis, differences between the model
It has been observed that the shear stress distribution caused by the bow of the boat
does not vary across the front of the tow for each of the test conditions. The flow is
nearly two-dimensional across the width of the barge. This makes the width of the barge
and y irrelevant. The propeller Reynolds number is also irrelevant. For the bow, the
distance x can be entirely represented by time (t) and velocity (U), so x can be neglected.
Some of the variables did not change throughout the entire set of experiments. g, v, and L
were constant for all the experiments and are ignored in the analysis. If any of these
variables are changed their effect on the current results should be analyzed. The final
7 = f(H, h, U, V, t, P) (3.2)
Here, p is constant for all the experiments so it can be absorbed into a constant. h, U, V,
and H are constant for all time during an experiment so the relationship between t and H
maximum shear stresses), and several other variables in Tables 3.2 and 3.3 for
,,-
L~kl
downbound barges and upbound barges, respectively. is given as a hnction of
(u v ) ~
-
in Figure 3.12.
UP B
UPC
UP D
Figure 3.12 Variables used to non-dimensionalize the bow peak
The curve fits shown in Figure 3.12 are given by Eqs. 3 4 and 3.5 for the downbound
and upbound runs, respectively. These two equations can be used to predict the peak
shear stress for the bow footprints of the downbound and upbound runs.
rCpk,l
(u- v)'
Figures 3.13 and 3.14 show the ensemble averaged bow shear stress footprints
calculated for all of the tests. Although the shape of the bow footprint varies somewhat
for the different tests, the dimensionless footprints are very similar. Prior to the arrival of
the peak used to non-dimensionalize the downbound bow shear stress footprint there is a
region that is not so well behaved. The region shown by th :dimensionless time -5.00 to
-1 .OO is quite turbulent and may scale differently than the le: s turbulent region of the
bow footprint. However, analysis of this region is limited sinc :there is a large amount of
variation within this region even for the same test conditions.
Figure 3. 13 Dimensionless bow shear shess footprint for downbound tows
The same set of variables used for the bow also govern the shear stress distribution
The stern shear stress footprints are affected by two things, the propeller jets, and the
wake of the stern. For the two deepest downbound tests, and the deepest upbound test,
the propeller jet does not seem to have an effect on the bottom shear stress. In addition,
the shear stress imposed on the bed by the stern wake appears to be independent of y, and
V does not have a significant effect on the shear stress. In these three cases Eq. 3.7 can
Figures 3.15 through 3.17 show the dimensionless curves for Downbound runs C
and D and Upbound run C. A new variable is used instead of H in these figures; H,, is
the difference between the depth, H, and the propeller radius. The prototype propeller
diameter is 2.74 m. Care must be taken in the choice of xpk2 used to non-dimensionalize
the shear stress since the tests do not have enough runs to give a smooth ensemble
average. The magnitudes of xpk2 used in Figures 3.15 through 3.17 are given in Table
3.4.
Table 3.4 Peak shear stress used to non-dimensionalize stern foopl-ints
For the rest of the stem shear stress footprints, the large number of variables given
by Eq. 3.7 makes dimensional analysis difficult, especially considering the limited
number of test conditions and sensor locations. In addition, the scatter of the shear stress
measurements used to calculate the ensemble averages is much greater after the stern
than at the bow. Consequently, obtaining a good non-dimensional form of the stem wave
Appendix A gives all of the ensemble averaged stern shear stress footprints gathered
at WES.
Prior to the dataset presented above, another dataset was gathered. A number of
problems were encountered when the dataset was being analyzed, requiring the
acquisition of the second dataset. The first problem encountered was a software problem.
Each dataset was cut off after 80 seconds of data was gathered. Because of this software
glitch most of the runs only showed the arrival of the bow. The second problem occurred
because of bubbling, upon analyzing the data it was noted that not all of the runs
sensors by vapor bubbles. Later it became apparent that some of the calibration curves
used for the first dataset contained data points where bubbling occurred. Eliminating the
runs where bubbling occurred has been attempted, but the shear stresses measured
(particularly in the upbound runs) are still somewhat higher than those gathered in the
current dataset. Tables 3.5 and 3.6 give the peak shear stress measurements for the
downbound and upbound runs, respectively. It should be noted that even in the 1997
dataset a few of the runs read significantly higher than the others, but for the most part
Test Sensor
LOG. HP H U Z ~ k l Zpk2 6t
(cm) ( 4 (m) ( d s ) S (Pa) (Pa) (Pa) (s) Notes
DNA -68.6 4.3 (14 ft) 0.17 0.61 1 0.21 None None Pumps 3 & 4
-43.2 2 0.39 0.27 0.76 7.3
-17.8 3 0.21 0.13 1.35 0.2
0 1 0.36 0.19 1.86 0.1
7.6 4 0.34 0.15 2.14 0.2
7.6 1 0.27 0.21 1.17 0.5
25.4 2 0.30 0.33 0.87 9.6
33.O 2 0.36 0.29 1.12 8.0
50.8 3 0.32 0.22 0.28 8.0
58.4 3 0.20 0.35 0.21 7.6
76.2 4 None None -
83.8 4 None None None
DN B -25.4 5.6 (18.5 ft) 0.23 0.79 1 0.29 0.14 0.32 5.5 Pumps 3-4 41%
-16.5 1 0.32 0.12 0.41 7.4 Pumps 5-6
0 2 0.39 0.17 0.43 5.6
8.9 2 0.32 0.10 0.35 5.3
25.4 3 0.29 0.12 0.38 5.6
34.3 3 0.15 0.13 0.41 5.9
50.8 4 0.20 0.10 0.33 5.8
59.7 4 0.16 0.11 0.12 6.5
Note: Z ~ is~ given
A since the maximum bow shear stress is not always the shear stress
that occurs on the smooth part of the footprint. The maximum shear stress in the less
turbulent region of the bow footprint is r,kl.
Table 3.6 Measured parameters, upbound barge, 1996 dataset
%,
Sensor
LOC. *P H U Sensor ~ ~ 1 1 2 6t
Test (cm) ( 4 (m) ( d s ) ID (Pa) (Pa) 6 ) Notes
UP A -67.3 4.3 (14 ft) 0.17 0.31 1 0.67 Pumps 3 & 4
-41.9 2 0.65 0.58 6.9
-25.4 1 0.78
-16.5 3 0.86 2.03 1.4
0 2 0.88
8.9 4 0.69 1.19 1.0
25.4 3 0.74
50.8 4 0.68
VP B -25.4 5.6 (18.5 ft) 0.23 0.42 1 0.70 - Pumps 3-4 41%
-8.9 1 0.74 - Pumps 5-6
0 2 0.81 -
16.5 2 0.71 -
25.4 3 0.67 -
41.9 3 0.58 -
50.8 4 0.75 -
67.3 4 0.24 -
UP C -33.0 7.0 (23 ft) 0.28 0.42 1 0.35 - Pumps 3-6
-7.6 2 0.64 -
17.8 3 0.41 -
43.2 4 0.33 -
The first dataset did show a few things that the second dataset could not. While the
magnitude of the shear stresses measured is not entirely trusted, some of the spatial
aspects of the shear stress distribution are usehl. For the second dataset the sensors were
spaced 12.7 cm apart. This allowed higher resolution, but limited the width of the field
of shear stress that could be measured (due to time constraints). In the first dataset the
sensors were spaced 25.4 cm apart, allowing the measurement of a wider shear stress
field (with less resolution, of course). One of the interesting things that the wider
measurement field showed was that though the bow peak shear stress is fairly constant
across the front of the barge tow, the influence of the peak quickly drops outside the
edges of the barge. This behavior was observed in the first downbound run where no
bow peak was observed outside the 1.27 m wide barge and also in the second upbound
run where the bow peak was greatly reduced just outside the edge of the tow. The
remainder of the experiments did not have sensors located far enough outside of the
barges' edges. A nice thing about this behavior is that it allows the shear stresses
produced by the stern to be modeled as a constant footprint over the entire bow, and
outside of the edges of the tow the influence of the shear stresses can be neglected.
At the time the first dataset was gathered a comparison was made of the shear
velocity computed from three different measurements. The shear velocity was computed
fiom shear stress measurements, a measured velocity profile, and depths measured at
three locations in the model basin. The comparison was made for a very high velocity
flow. Although the flow was non-uniform (since the bed of the river model is
horizontal), the results of the comparison provide an estimate of the accuracy of the
The shear stress measurements gave shear velocities of between 0.29 and 0.34 d s ,
the log-law curve fit of the velocity profile gave a shear velocity of 0.38 d s and the
depth measurements gave a shear velocity of 0.32 d s . The three shear velocity
measurements are similar and indicate that the shear stress sensors are operating
1- - - - - - - 1 - - - 1 --- 1 - ' "-
conectiy. -
1I ilt: siiciil -:A.-- -A.
~ e u depth measurements is only approximate
VCIULILY ~ a l ~ u l a livm
since the flow was non-uniform. The shear velocity measured with the shear stress
sensors may be less than the shear velocity computed from the velocity profile because of
the location of the sensors. The sensors are mounted in a large, smooth sheet of
plexiglass. The ADV used to measure the velocity profile was mounted above a sheet of
marine plywood. The marine plywood is probably a little rougher than the plexiglass.
On the other hand, the velocity points gathered with the ADV and the corresponding log-
law velocity profile shown in Figure 3.18 demonstrate that the bed is hydraulically
smooth.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Velocity ( c d s )
Figure 3.18 Comparison of measured velocity and log-law velocity profile
3.9. Conclusions
The conclusions that can be drawn from this model study are the following:
1. The shear stress footprint caused by the bow of a barge tow is given by Figure
3.13 for a downbound tow and Figure 3.14 for an upbound tow. The bow
footprint of the downbound tow is similar in shape to that of the upbound tow.
2. The magnitudes of the shear stress footprint at the bow can be found by
calculating the peak bo;v sheax stress using Eqs. 3.4 and 3 .5. The resulting she=
3 . The stem shear stress distributions are given by Figures 3.15 through 3.17 and
Table 3.4 for Downbound runs C and D, and Upbound run C. The rest of the
stern footprints are too complicated to reduce, and shear stresses must be
4. The bow shear stress footprint is constant across the entire bow of the vessel and
5. Velocity profiles gathered with an ADV show that the surface of the model basin
4.1. Introduction
Being the wall shear stress a random variable, it is usefui to describe it in terms of
its statistical properties, namely PDF and statistical moments. Although there is still some
discrepancy concerning the general shape of the PDF of the bed shear stress, there is
strong experimental evidence that, for stationary conditions, it approaches a log-normal
distribution (Grass, 1970; Lopez 1994). Typical values of the variation coefficient,
skewness (S) and flatness (F) are about 0.4, 1, and 5 respectively (Alfredsson et al., 1988;
Lopez 1994). This characteristic shape may be affected by unsteadiness, with important
implications for sediment transport; thus, it needs to be investigated.
Two sets of experiments are presented in this section: the first one was obtained at WES
as part of the data gathered in 1997; the second consists of laboratory measurements
carried out at the Hydrosystems Laboratory (HSL), University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign.
Skewness S(t) = 1
C[r,(9- < ~ ( t>I3
- I='
)
(4.4)
N z ' k (t)
N
The shear stress sensor array (sensors equi-spaced 2.54 cm or 10 in) was aligned
in the streamwise direction. The traverse mechanism placed the barge-tow so that the
centerline of one propeller would pass right over the sensors.
As already pointed out, in order to compute unsteady statistics an ensemble of
realizations is required for each experiment, usually resulting in a tedious time-
consuming task. The setup selected for the sensors reduced the required amount of
realizations by a factor of four, since for each passage of the barge tow four independent
shear stress records (one for each sensor) could be gathered. A total of 18 runs were
carried out, resulting in 53 useful realizations after discarding the records in which
problems with the sensors were observed. The bad data included all the records of sensor
4, which did not operate properly.
4.3.2. Results
As mentioned earlier, the tow barge produces two basic effects on the flow
underneath (and hence on the wall shear stress): a wake effect due to the movement of the
barges and a propeller effect. The analysis will focus in regions where these effects can
be observed. The most relevant characteristics of the signal are summarized in Table 4.3.
Table 4.3 Characteristics ofthe shear shess signal for the WES experiments.
Region 1~ Part Acceleration Max. Veloc. 2ndPart Acceleration
Front 0.8 seconds 0.3 m/s2 0.25ds 35seconds -0.01m/s2
Propeller 1 second 0.6 m/s2 0.35 d s 50 seconds - 0.0025 m/s2
Statistical Estimates:
After the data selection, a total of 53 realizations were available for the
computation of ensemble statistics. In order to investigate whether or not this number is
enough to compute reliable estimates, the values of <r>, ,:z' z', S and F at one time are
plotted in Figures 4.1 and 4.2 as a function of the number of samples used in the
computations. It is apparent that as the order of the statistical moment increases, more
samples are required to achieve the same degree of accuracy. While the available number
of samples produces acceptable results for <r> and r', the values of S and F must be
considered with some caution.
number of samples
Figure 4.1 Estimates of < z>, z',tand r'as afunction of the number of samples.
-5 I I I 1 I I I
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
number of samples
The three sensors used did not give the exact same value of the shear stress.
Figures 4.3 (front part) and 4.4 (propeller part) show the ensemble average values of the
three sensors, and it can be seen that there is approximately 20% difference between the
maximum and minimum values measured. Considering the fact that the sensors were not
calibrated in situ, the difference was not surprising. This shortcoming was solved to some
extent by multiplying the values of sensors 2 and 3 by the ratio between the ensemble
average of sensor 1 and the ensemble average of the corresponding sensor. This
procedure represents an effective reduction in the number of samples used for the
computation of the ensemble average of the whole series to only the sensor 1 records, i.e.
18 samples.
Figures 4.5,4.6 and 4.7 show how the statistics vary with time. Figures 4.8, 4.9
and 4.10 zoom into the front part and 4.11,4.12 and 4.13 into the propeller part. Due to
the limited amount of samples the statistics looked somehow noisy and a 115 of a second
moving average was performed in order to smooth out the series. The moving average
period was chosen by looking at the original shear stress series and verifying that, during
this lapse of time, no important changes in the statistics occurred.
sensor I
-. -. - .-sensor 2
. . . . sensor 3
65 70 ' 75 80 85
time (sec)
sensor I
- - - -sensor 2
. . . . . . sensor 3
150 200
time (sec)
time (sec)
100 150
time (sec)
time (sec)
0 I I I I I / -1.6
105 107 109 111 113 115
time (sec)
where PDF" is the second derivative of the PDF with respect to T. The first term
expresses the influence of the random error, whereas the second is related to the bias
error. Conflicting requirements arise when choosing the value of W, since a large value
reduces the random error but increases the bias and vice versa. An idea of the appropriate
value of W can be obtained considering a standardized normal PDF and minimizing Eq.
4.7 at ? = 0 withN = 48:
which is satisfied for W = 1.5 . A normal PDF spans from around -4 to 4, so this value of
W gives only 5 points to describe the whole PDF. It was decided then, to use a value of
W = 1 and, in this way, get approximately 8 points for each PDF.
Figure 4.14 presents the sampled PDFs computed at some 24 characteristics
points in time. The shear stress values have been standardized (they have zero mean and
unit variance) and the normal distribution has been added to the graphs for comparison.
For approximately steady flow conditions, the PDFs approach a log-normal
distribution, in accordance with the findings of other researchers already commented
earlier. However, in the unsteady part of the signal the PDFs deviate from the log-normal
type, sometimes towards a more Gaussian shape.
I
+m
PDF(z) and its Taylor series expansion is related to the moments of the PDF(z) by:
ci = (-j)l -
dk
ln@(k)lk = o
It can be shown (Monin and Yaglom, 1971) that the cumulants, unlike the
moments, tend to zero as the order increases. This allows neglecting higher order
cumulants and still getting a good description of the PDF. Neglecting cumulants of order
higher than four, Nakagawa and Nezu (1977) obtained the following expression for the
PDF:
where ? is a variable with zero mean and unit variance, G(? ) is the Gaussian distribution
of the variable, and the cumulants can be computed from:
TI
J. ne- n nF
rvr, /-\ -- - I-
an o e
- -1
votained from Eq. 4.13 using the following transformation
rule (Bain and Engelhardt, 1987):
- n m
rur, (T) =
~ ' m -
-
1 ---
rur;
,Z-
(
< Z >
1
I dxl T' m 7' m
where 't = (z- < z >) /z', and subindices have been used to distinguish between the two
PDFs.
Combining Eqs.4.13, 4.14 and 4.15, an expression for the PDF, ( 7 ) as a function
of its mean, standard deviation, skewness and flatness is given by:
PDF, (T) =
-
(z- < z >)z
t' m
2zlm2
G
I[
Note that S and F are the same for z as well as for 'r . The above equation allows
for the computation of the PDF, (z) in terms of its first four moments. This statistics are
believed to describe properly the shape of the distribution, at least for steady and
moderate unsteady flow conditions. If the typical steady state values of z', S and F are
used in (16) the resulting PDF approaches a log-normal distribution.
The approach is also promising when extended to unsteady flow situations, since
in this case the PDF, (z) changes and deviates from the log-normal distribution. In Figure
4.14, the sampled PDFs are shown together with the analytical expression obtained in
Eq.4.16 Despite some dispersion expected due to the limited number of realizations, the
predicted PDFs follow the general trend of the sampled PDFs reasonably well.
/ t=60 sec
-I
.'.O ".
t=66.5 sec
V
0.2
0 -2
O '
0.6
t=75 sec lt=80 sec
0.6
1 t=103 sec
0.2
I
0.6 .
I
.
\
0.4
,, t=108 sec : ',
IC3
0.2
--.
4.4.1. Introduction
After reading the previous section, it is clear that the conditions at WES were not
ideal for the operation of the sensors. The limited amount of realizations due to time
constraints and the calibration not done in situ were factors that would have limited any
conclusions based on those experiments alone. In other words, measurements under more
controlled conditions were necessary. The measurements carried out at Hydrosystems
Laboratory (HSL) of the University of Illinois, did not attempt to reproduce the exact
conditions of the WES experiments but to simulate some characteristics considered of
importance to the phenomenon under study, and in particular the effect of unsteadiness
on the shear stresses.
tank
test section
I valve
Table 4.4 Characteristics of the shear stress signalfor the HSL exprriments.
Exp # l a Part Acceleration Max. Veloc. 2ndPart Acceleration
1 2 seconds 0.7 m/s2 1.4 m/s 2 seconds - 1.7 m/s2
2 4 seconds 0.4 m/s2 1.6 m/s 4 seconds - 4 m/s2
L
As it can be seen, the characteristic values are similar to those measured at WES.
The two shear stress sensors operated at 500 Hz and were calibrated in situ. Velocity
measurements were also gathered during these experiments. An Acoustic Doppler
Velocimeter (ADV) measured instantaneous velocities at 25 Hz in the centerline of the
channel and at 0.5 cm from the bottom. The velocity and shear stress records were
synchronized by means of an external trigger.
The runs consisted in periodic repetitions of the signal spaced by a time lapse of
no velocity. Later, during the data analysis, all the periods were collapsed in a common
system of reference and treated as independent realizations. A total of 60 realizations
were gathered for each situation.
4.4.4. Results
The experiments conducted at HSL were more precise and detailed, with around
60 realizations for each experiment, a higher measuring resolution (500 Hz sampling
frequency), and two independent measurements recorded by two sensors. This provided a
reference set of data for comparison with the WES experiments. Since the statistical
estimates of <z>, zt, S and F give essentially the same information that the PDF, the
computation of the probability distributions was not performed for these experiments.
Statistical Estimates:
Both sensors gave basically the same readings, with a difference on the order of
5%. However, it was decided to use only data from one sensor to compute the estimates
instead of mixing the records of the two of them since, strictly speaking, they belong to
different populations. The second sensor was used only for verification purposes.
As done with the WES experiments, estimates were computed for <z>, z', S and
F, and are presented in Figures 4.17 to 4.21 for experiments number 1 to 5, respectively.
A moving average of 1/25 seconds was applied to the series for smoothing purposes.
In general, the trend is similar to that observed for the WES experiments, with 6,
S and F
changing to 0.2, 0, and 3 as a result of the unsteadiness. For the triangular shape
experiments (test #1 to #3), the statistics return to the original values once the unsteady
part finishes, whereas for the plateau shape (runs #4 and #5) they remain at the new
levels.
4.5. Conclusions
Detailed measurements of wall shear stress have been taken under unsteady flow
conditions. Two sets of experiments were carried out, the first one simulating the effects
of the passage of a tow barge, and the second featuring simplified patterns with a better
time resolution and more realizations. After analyzing the results of these tests, the
following conclusions can be drawn:
Before and after the barge passes, the statistics tend to values similar to those
predicted for steady state conditions which are 0.4, 1, and 5 for z', S and F, respectively
The corresponding PDF approaches a log-normal distribution.
The wall shear stress and its statistics are strongly modified in the vicinity of the
front of the barge and by the passage of the propellers.
The change in the statistics in the front part, is characterized by a decrease of the
value of z' to 0.25, and a more erratic behavior of S and F due to the limited number of
samples. Later experiments carried out at HSL confirm the trend in r' and show that S
and F tend to their Gaussian values of 0 and 3, respectively.
For the propeller part the pattern is more complicated, with all the statistics
showing first a small decrease and then an increase over the steady values, with a gradual
return to normal conditions after the passage of the barge train.
Concerning the PDF of the shear stress, it has been found that a fourth order
cumulant expansion provides a reasonable approximation to the sampled PDF in terms of
<T>, T+,S and F.
4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8
tim e ( s e c )
tim e(sec)
Figure 4.17: Estimates of <z>, zC,S and F corresponding to test # I ofthe HSL
experiments.
5.5 6.5 7.5 8.5 9.5 10.5 11.5 12.5
ti me (sec)
Figure 4.2 1: Estimates of <r>, r+,S and F corresponding to test #5 of the HSL
experiments.
5. FIELD APPLICATION
5.1. Introduction
One of the driving objectives of the present work was the quantification of the
amount of sediment that gets entrained during the passage of a tow barge and, in a more
general framework, the consequences of navigation on sediment transport. This chapter
shows a methodology that incorporates the unsteadiness effect in the computation of
suspended sediment transport. Under very high shear stresses most of the transport occurs
as suspended load; besides, suspended sediment is more likely to be affected by inertia
(unsteadiness) forces than the bed load.
The two applications that close this chapter are intimately related with the analysis
carried out in previous chapters. The first one is a computation of the amount of sediment
entrained by a barge tow from a 0.5mm unifo- sand bed. The second is a computation
of the scour produced by the propeller of the barge tow on two different uniform-size
beds, i.e. 0.5 and 0.1 mm.
5.2.1. Background
The depth-integrated forrn of the transport equation for uniform size suspended
sediment considering a nearly horizontal plane bed, simplifies to (Garcia, 1997):
where C is the mean concentration in the vertical, h is the flow depth, U, is the mean
strearnwise velocity, v, is the fail velocity of the sediment, Es is the entrainment and < is
the near bed concentration averaged over turbulence. The right hand side of (5.1) is the
net upward vertical flux of sediment at the bed and can be interpreted as the balance
between two terms, vs Es accounting for the resuspension and v, E,, representing the
where the generic functions fi and f2 are nonlinear in T or u* with different powers
depending on the formulation chosen, and D is a measure of the sediment diameter
(usually D jo) . All of them have been developed for equilibrium conditions, which means
that no net erosion or deposition occurs. Under this assumption, the right hand side of
(5.1) is zero, and thus Es =Eb (in fact, experimentally Sb is used instead of Es to obtain fi
or fi for equilibrium conditions). This is unrealistic in unsteady flow, and although some
researchers have extended the use of such relations to nonequilibrium situations (van
Rijn, 1987) their applicability has never been demonstrated.
In order to avoid the shortcomings mentioned, an alternative approach is presented
herein. The present analysis recognizes the interacting variables of (5.2) as stochastic,
and provides relations between them in terms of their statistics (PDFs and low order
moments) which, in turn, are able to capture the unsteadiness (or nonequilibrium).
with u* and v, being the friction velocity and the fall velocity of the sediment,
respectively. The particle Reynolds number is expressed as:
where g is the gravitational acceleration, R is the submerged specific gravity, D5()is the
particle mean diameter and v is the kinematic viscosity.
If we consider a particular particle size and fluid, the entrainment would be only a
function of u., which is in turn related to the bed shear stress r, so we can write:
E, = f, (r) = f, (u*)
where fi and f2 express now one to one relationships. In a turbulent flow the bed shear
stress is a stochastic variable, and so should be the entrainment of sediment into
suspension. As is common with turbulent quantities, the instantaneous values will be
expressed as the sum of an ensemble mean and a fluctuation, i.e. r=<r>+r', Es =< Es >+
E,' . Accordingly, the ensemble average value of the entrainment is defined as:
where PDFE strn& for the probability density function of Es. Since (5.6) is a one to one
relation, we can express the PDFE as a function of the PDF of the shear stress PDF,:
Changing variables in (5.7) and considering only positive values for Es and r:
Graphically, (5.9) can be considered as the area below the curve resulting from the
multiplication of the entrainment and the probability density function o f t (see figure
5.1).
The proposed approach allows for the computation of not only ensemble averaged
values of entrainment, but also higher order moments (i.e. variance, skewness, flatness)
of its probability distribution. The information required is the shear stress probability
distribution in a form suitable for the integration, like (5.1 1) in the previous chapter. A
very similar approach has been used to assess bedload transport by unsteady flows (Grass
and Ayoub, 1982).
where the denominator of (5.3) has been omitted, since it is an ad hoe term that accounts
for a higher limit of the entrainment (Garcia and Parker, 1991) and can be replaced by a
condition < Es > 1 0.3. Assuming that the instantaneous relation between entrainment
and wall shear stress obeys a similar equation:
Combining (4.1 6), (5.9) and (5.1 1) the equation for the entrainment takes the forrn:
7 (Pas)
and II ...I5 are functions of 'r only, and are defined by:
In (5.1 5) Lz (x) are generalized Laguerre polynomials. The values of I1.. .I for different
which is very close to the original equation (5.10), as it can be seen in figure 5.3, where
both equations have been plotted in the <Es>, Z, plane. The line resulting from using
<r>+r',, in (5.10) has also been included in the graph.
70
In order to compare the order of magnitude of the terrns in (5.18), I*;JI and J2 can be
plotted as a function of T'. This is shown in figure 5.4, where absolute values have been
taken on the functions J1and J2 in order to facilitate the plot in a logarithmic scale; this is
valid since the analysis is concerned with magnitude, not sign.
A r nrS
I . C-VL
From the figure above it is clear that, except for very low values of ?+(which are
rarely found in turbulent flows) I1 is greater than J1 and J2 by at least an order of
magnitude. Even considering unusually high values of S and F (i.e. 5 and 20,
respectively) the first term on the right hand side of (5.18) is much more important than
the other two. If this is the case, the contribution of the terns involving S and F can be
conveniently neglected, resulting:
which corresponds to a Gaussian distribution, since (5.20) can be readily obtained from
(5.18) using S=O and F=3. Further simplification can be obtained fitting a power law to I1
for the range of r' from 0.2 to 1 (see figure 5.5) and writing:
where w is the width of the barge, in our case 32 m, and 310 m has been chosen as the
distance on the x axis of influence of the front and hull.
The effect of the propellers was considered assuming that they behave as a jet in the
far field. Following this idea, a Gaussian decay was proposed for the shear stress, of the
form:
<r (x,O)> is the maximum value of the shear stress and is located on the axis of the jet.
Based on observations during the experiments, it was considered that the signal recorded
at the centerline of the propeller was a good estimate of the signal at the centerline of the
barge (y=O).
Since it was assumed that T+ does not vary with y, r'=<z>z+ also follows (5.25). In
consequence:
In this way, the total sediment entrained by the barge will be:
If instead of a Lagrangian frame of reference an Eulerian one is used, the results is:
Although the present results are approximate, they give an idea of the huge amount
of sediment that is resuspended during barge passages. The order of magnitude of the
computed values of resuspended sediment seem to agree with the ones reported by Sutton
(1996) and corresponding to ship maneuvering effects.
It must be pointed out that the situation considered corresponds to an upbound-
moving barge in a very shallow water body, which is the worst scenario in terms of flow
dynamics. However, the results can be even more dramatic if we consider a smaller
sediment size, not only because of the larger volume expected but also due to the fact that
the finer material can remain suspended into the water column, unlike the 0.5 rnm
material considered herein that re-deposits almost immediately. The 0.5 mm diameter
sediment can be regarded as typical of the Upper Mississippi River, a very traveled
waterway where this type of resuspension events due to barge passage frequently occurs.
Another heavily trafficked river, the Illinois, is more in the range of the 0.1 rnm, so the
expected amount of material entrained is even greater.
5.4. Application 2: Computation of the scour produced by a tow barge passage
The variation of the bed level can be computed using the Exner equation:
where h, is the porosity, q is the bed position and qb is the bedload transport per unit
width. qb can be estimated using, for example, the Engelund and Fredsoe relation:
where r,' = 0.05 is a critical Shield's stress, Ds is the sediment diameter (usually Djo ),
and the dimensionless variables are defined by:
The entrainment can be estimated using the Garcia and Parker relationship (5.3), and
for < we can use the expression:
where ro is a shape factor, which for the case of a Roussean concentration profile takes
the foim (Parker, 1982):
which can be solved for C for a given time series of shear velocities u*.Notice that h is
the mean flow depth and is taken to be constant for the computation of C. Once C is
obtained, replacing back in (5.36) gives cb.
Solution:
Basically, the problem consists of solving two differential equations, namely (5.39)
and (5.32). An important simplification that can be made in this problem is that x and t
are related through the velocity of the boat Ub. This reduces the problem to only one
variable, i.e., time.
Equation (5.39) can be solved for C numerically. For example, a simple forward
difference, explicit scheme would give:
where the subindex 1 corresponds to the values of the variable computed in a previous
time step. To solve the equation an initial value for C, i.e., Co = 0 is needed.
Once C is obtained, the next step is to proceed with the Exner equation. The relation
between time and distance is given by:
4 + hC = constant
q(1- h p )+
Ub
The constant represents the state of the system before the barge passes and can be set
equal to zero. Finally, the expression for q reads:
Sample computations are attached in figures 5.8 and 5.9 for a sediment diameter of
0.5 mm and 0.1 mm, respectively. A value of 0.2 was selected for the porosity. The time
step should be selected carefully, because the simple explicit scheme used in (5.40) will
become unstable otherwise. By inspection of (5.40), it is possible to develop a simple
criterion to select the time step At by requiring that
For the attached examples, Ub = 1.5 rn/s and h = 1 m, so from (5.45) a time step,
1.5m
At - 0.1 seconds
1.5 m/s
--
--
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
,P
% 0.6 -
'-t
-50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150
tU/H,
irr~t?,downbozmd run B
Figure A. 11 Stern shear stress footprint 24.1 cm from barge c~*?t;,
-50 -a40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150
tU/H,
Figire A. 12 Stern shear stress footprint 30.5 cm fion~barge centerline, downbound run B
Figure A. 13 Stern shear stress footprint 1.2 7 cm .from barge centerline, downbound run C
Figure A. 14 Stern shear stress footprint 5.08 cm from barge centerline, downbound run C
Figure A. 15 Stern shew stvess footprint 11.4 cmfi.om barge centerline, downbound run C
-50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150
turn,
Figure A. 16 Stern shear stress footprint 17.8 crn from barge centerline, downbound run C
Figure A. 18 Stern shear stress footprint 30.5 crn fiorn barge centerline, dowrzboz,nd run (7
<t-'% 0.6
Figure A. 19 Stern shear stressfootprint 1.27 ern @om the barge centerline, downbound run D
Figure A.20 Stern shear stress footyrint 5.08 cmfi.orn barge centerline, downbound run D
-50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150
turn,
Figure A.21 Stern shear stress footprint 11.4 cm from barge centerline, downbound run D
Figure A. 22 Stern shear stressfootprint 17.8 cm @om barge centerline, downbound run D
Figure A.23 Stern shear stress foolprint 24.1 cm,from barge centerline, downbound run D
figure A. 24 Stern shear stress footprint 30.5 cm from barge centerline, downbound run D
Figure A. 2 7 Stern shear stressfootprint 11.4 cm from barge cerrterline, upbound run A
Figure A. 31 Stern shear stressfootprint 1.27 cm @om barge centerline, upbound run B
Figure A. 32 Stern shear stressfootprint 5.08 cm from barge centerline, upbound run B
Figure A. 33 Stern shear stressfootprint 11.4 cm from barge centerline, upbound run B
-30 -20 -10 O 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180
tU/H,
Figure A. 43 Stern shear s fressfoo print 1.2 7 cm from barge centerline, upbound run D
-30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180
turn,
Figure A. 44 Stern shear stress footprint 5.08 cmJiom barge centerline, upbound run D
Figure A. 45 Stern shear stress footprint 11.4 cnz from barge centerline, uphound run D
-30 -20 -10 O 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180
turn,
Figure A. 46 Stern shear stress footprint 17.8 cm from barge centerline, upbound run D
Figure A. 47 Stern shear stress footprint 24.1 cm from barge centerline, upbound run D