Experimental study on the settling of irregularly shaped sediment particles from the source region of the Yangtze River

Settling plays a pivotal role in sediment transport and morphological evolution of alluvial rivers. Sediment particles in the source regions of large rivers are more likely to feature irregular shapes due to less abrasion than in lower reaches of the rivers. However, the settling of irregularly shaped sediment particles from the source region of a river has to date remained poorly understood. Here, sediment particles were sampled from the Tuotuo River basin in the source region of the Yangtze River. A total of 28 experimental runs were done in a purpose-built settling cylinder to investigate the settling of the sediment particles, with particle Reynolds number, Re p , defined using terminal settling velocity, ranging from 0.22 to 5,939. The results demonstrate that large Re p and irregular particle shape favor unstable settling behavior with wobbling motion and intense velocity fluctuations. An irregular particle experiences larger drag, and, thus, attains a lower terminal velocity than an equivalent sphere, and the shape effect which reduces terminal velocity tends to become significant with increasing Re p and decreasing Corey shape factor. The measured terminal velocities are compared with five empirical formulas. It is shown that the formulas of Dietrich, Haider and Levenspiel, and Wu and Wang are favorable to use (within the range ±20% of the measured data), whereas Zhang's formula and van Rijn's formula may considerably overestimate the terminal velocity, as no shape descriptor is incorporated to account for irregular shape effects. The current study facilitates a new experimental dataset that may be utilized to further investigate sediment settling dynamics. Also, it has direct implications for enhancing the understanding of morpho-dynamics in the source region of the Yangtze River, which may experience significant changes in response to climate change and anthropogenic activities. • Settling of irregularly shaped sediment particles is experimentally studied. • Terminal velocity decreases as particle shape deviates from a sphere. • Large particle Reynolds number favors unstable settling of particles. • Irregularly shaped particles tend to feature unstable settling behavior. • Terminal velocity may be represented by existing formulas within ±20%.