Closure to “Sand Transport Studies with Radioactive Tracers”

Abstract

Since the advent of radioactive tracer techniques, application ofLagrangian experimental techniques in the investigation of sedimenttransport phenomena has become feasible. The results of one fieldexperiment and two subsequent laboratory experiments in which radioactivetracer techniques were used to study the transport and longitudinaldispersion of bed-material particles are reported.The development of a concentration distibution function, which isbased on a Lagrangian probabilistic model wherein the transport ofbed material particles is described as a seuence of alternating stepsand rest periods, and a method for determining the discharge of bed-materialparticles are reviewed. the discharge is obtained from applying thecontinuity principle to the mean rate of movement of a group of tracerparticles and the effective cross-sectional area of the bed throughwhich they move. the concentration-distribution function and themethod for determining bed-material discharge are examined in thelight of the experimental data and are found to be applicable bothin the field and the laboratory.