Influence of gravel-bed porosity and grain orientation on bulk flow resistance

Abstract

This paper presents results from experiments that were carried out to study the effect of porosity and grain orientation on flow resistance. Experiments were performed over three rough surfaces; a water-worked gravel-bed, its non-porous facsimile (cast-bed) and the rotated cast-bed (cast tiles rotated through 180°). The first two beds were used to isolate the influence of gravel-bed porosity on the bulk flow resistance and the rotated cast was used to study effect of the grain orientation on the flow resistance. The results showed that the rotated cast-bed exerted the highest flow resistance whereas the porous water-worked gravel-bed was, for comparable hydraulic boundary conditions, characterized by slightly higher flow resistance than its non-porous counterpart. The results from the bulk flow analysis were substantiated by a preliminary analysis of flow velocity data.