Resistance to Flow in Alluvial Channels With Coarse Bed Materials

The hydraulics of alluvial streams and sediment transport in alluvial channels is not yet well understood and consequently poorly described. In particular the topic of flow resistance has received much attention [1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 13] but as yet there has been no general equation relating friction to average flow velocity. Equations developed on the basis of rigid boundary fluid mechanics do not adequately describe the more complex behavior of alluvial channels. This paper discusses the relationship of flow resistance to average flow velocity based on the author's study of the Raba River in Poland. Experimental results are compared with EINSTEIN-BARBAROSSA, RAUDKIVI and MANNING methods.