DEPTH-AVERAGED 2-D CALCULATION OF FLOW AND SEDIMENT TRANSPORT IN CURVED CHANNELS

The helical flow significantly affects the flow, sediment transport and morphological evolution in curved channels. A semi-empirical formula is proposed to determine the cross-stream distribution of the helical flow intensity in the developed regions of a channel bend. It is then used to evaluate the dispersion terms in the depth-averaged 2-D momentum equations and suspended-load transport equation as well as the bed-load transport angle, thus enhancing the depth-averaged 2-D model to account for the effect of helical flow. The tests in several experimental and field cases show that the enhanced depth-averaged 2-D model can much more reasonably predict the shifting of main flow from inner bank to outer bank, the erosion along outer bank and deposition along inner bank than the depth-averaged 2-D model without considering this effect.