Channel Response (channel + response)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Critical Evaluation of How the Rosgen Classification and Associated "Natural Channel Design" Methods Fail to Integrate and Quantify Fluvial Processes and Channel Response,

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, Issue 5 2007
A. Simon
Abstract:, Over the past 10 years the Rosgen classification system and its associated methods of "natural channel design" have become synonymous to some with the term "stream restoration" and the science of fluvial geomorphology. Since the mid 1990s, this classification approach has become widely adopted by governmental agencies, particularly those funding restoration projects. The purposes of this article are to present a critical review, highlight inconsistencies and identify technical problems of Rosgen's "natural channel design" approach to stream restoration. This paper's primary thesis is that alluvial streams are open systems that adjust to altered inputs of energy and materials, and that a form-based system largely ignores this critical component. Problems with the use of the classification are encountered with identifying bankfull dimensions, particularly in incising channels and with the mixing of bed and bank sediment into a single population. Its use for engineering design and restoration may be flawed by ignoring some processes governed by force and resistance, and the imbalance between sediment supply and transporting power in unstable systems. An example of how C5 channels composed of different bank sediments adjust differently and to different equilibrium morphologies in response to an identical disturbance is shown. This contradicts the fundamental underpinning of "natural channel design" and the "reference-reach approach." The Rosgen classification is probably best applied as a communication tool to describe channel form but, in combination with "natural channel design" techniques, are not diagnostic of how to mitigate channel instability or predict equilibrium morphologies. For this, physically based, mechanistic approaches that rely on quantifying the driving and resisting forces that control active processes and ultimate channel morphology are better suited as the physics of erosion, transport, and deposition are the same regardless of the hydro-physiographic province or stream type because of the uniformity of physical laws. [source]


Morphological dynamics of upland headwater streams in the southern North Island of New Zealand

NEW ZEALAND GEOGRAPHER, Issue 1 2010
Arved C. Schwendel
Abstract Short-term channel dynamics of mountain stream reaches in the southern North Island of New Zealand were assessed over two successive 3-month periods using morphological budgeting. Response to floods varies between reaches, even when the catchments were located close to each other and had similar characteristics. The reaches on the Central Volcanic Plateau experienced least morphological change, while streams with steep catchments and migrating planform in the Tararua and Ruahine Ranges showed frequent channel adjustments. Channel response is conditioned by intrinsic variables rendering reaches responsive or robust to the effects of floods, and this is likely to reflect the degree of connectivity between slopes and channels, and reaches. [source]


The spatial and temporal patterns of aggradation in a temperate, upland, gravel-bed river

EARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS, Issue 9 2009
Emma K. Raven
Abstract Intensive field monitoring of a reach of upland gravel-bed river illustrates the temporal and spatial variability of in-channel sedimentation. Over the six-year monitoring period, the mean bed level in the channel has risen by 0·17 m with a maximum bed level rise of 0·5 m noted at one location over a five month winter period. These rapid levels of aggradation have a profound impact on the number and duration of overbank flows with flood frequency increasing on average 2·6 times and overbank flow time increasing by 12·8 hours. This work raises the profile of coarse sediment transfer in the design and operation of river management, specifically engineering schemes. It emphasizes the need for the implementation of strategic monitoring programmes before engineering work occurs to identify zones where aggradation is likely to be problematic. Exploration of the sediment supply and transfer system can explain patterns of channel sedimentation. The complex spatial, seasonal and annual variability in sediment supply and transfer raise uncertainties into the system's response to potential changes in climate and land-use. Thus, there is a demand for schemes that monitor coarse sediment transfer and channel response. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Processes and forms of an unstable alluvial system with resistant, cohesive streambeds ,

EARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS, Issue 7 2002
Andrew Simon
Abstract As a response to channelization projects undertaken near the turn of the 20th century and in the late 1960s, upstream reaches and tributaries of the Yalobusha River, Mississippi, USA, have been rejuvenated by upstream-migrating knickpoints. Sediment and woody vegetation delivered to the channels by mass failure of streambanks has been transported downstream to form a large sediment/debris plug where the downstream end of the channelized reach joins an unmodified sinuous reach. Classification within a model of channel evolution and analysis of thalweg elevations and channel slopes indicates that downstream reaches have equilibrated but that upstream reaches are actively degrading. The beds of degrading reaches are characterized by firm, cohesive clays of two formations of Palaeocene age. The erodibility of these clay beds was determined with a jet-test device and related to critical shear stresses and erosion rates. Repeated surveys indicated that knickpoint migration rates in these clays varied from 0·7 to 12 m a,1, and that these rates and migration processes are highly dependent upon the bed substrate. Resistant clay beds of the Porters Creek Clay formation have restricted advancement of knickpoints in certain reaches and have caused a shift in channel adjustment processes towards bank failures and channel widening. Channel bank material accounts for at least 85 per cent of the material derived from the channel boundaries of the Yalobusha River system. Strategies to reduce downstream flooding problems while preventing upstream erosion and land loss are being contemplated by action agencies. One such proposal involves removal of the sediment/debris plug. Bank stability analyses that account for pore-water and confining pressures have been conducted for a range of hydrologic conditions to aid in predicting future channel response. If the sediment/debris plug is removed to improve downstream drainage, care should be taken to provide sufficient time for drainage of groundwater from the channel banks so as not to induce accelerated bank failures. Published in 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Performance analysis of adaptive receivers for DS/CDMA communication systems

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, Issue 12 2008
Fang-Biau Ueng
Abstract Both intersymbol interference (ISI) and multiple-access interference (MAI) are the important issues in code division multiple access (CDMA) multiuser communication systems. The step size of the traditional least-mean-square (LMS) adaptive receivers must be substantially adjusted to overcome the effect due to different channel responses or different numbers of active users. The normalized-LMS (NLMS) algorithm can automatically manipulate the adjustment to avoid the problem just discussed. This paper proposes the symbol-based interference rejection filter with NLMS algorithm and derives both finite impulse response (FIR)- and infinite impulse response (IIR)-type algorithms. We also derive the optimal step sizes and minimum mean-square errors (MSEs) for both the FIR and IIR symbol-based receivers. The complexity of our proposed FIR receiver is lower than that of the conventional chip-based receivers. In addition, it is shown that the bit error rate performance of our proposed symbol-based receivers is superior to conventional one in the simulations. Simulations also show the correctness of our theoretical analysis of minimum MSE. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]