Sediment transport: an appraisal of available methods

Abstract

In 1972 Ackers and White proposed a new sediment transport theory and tested the theory against flume data. Subsequent phases in this investigation have included (I) the acquisition of about 270 field measurements of transport rates from the literature and (ii) the testing of all commonly used sediment transport theories against this extended range of data. These two phases are the subject of the present report. The report also includes a proposed modification to one of the existing stochastic theories which significantly improves its performance. Volume 1 describes the sediment transport theories and indicates in each case how the theories have been used in the present investigation. Volume 2 describes and classifies the data used for comparative purposes. It defines the criteria on which the comparison between observed and calculated transport rates are based and presents the results provided by the theories described in Volume 1.