TY - GEN
T1 - Channel evolution during and after dam removal
T2 - 2005 Watershed Management Conference - Managing Watersheds for Human and Natural Impacts: Engineering, Ecological, and Economic Challenges
AU - Cantelli, Alessandro
AU - Wong, Miguel
AU - Parker, Gary
AU - Paola, Chris
PY - 2005
Y1 - 2005
N2 - We develop and illustrate a numerical model for the evolution of a channel during and after removal of a dam. The most important new feature of the model is that it captures a phenomenon we have observed in experiments on dam removal: "erosional narrowing", a narrowing of the channel due to preferential erosion along the channel centerline and consequent flow restriction and spatial acceleration. The narrowing tendency is counterbalanced by the well known tendency of the channel to widen due to bank erosion. The interplay of these two effects can lead, among other things, to upstream propagation of waves of incision and sedimentation. The onset of narrowing is sensitive to the rate of fall of base level, controlled in the dam-removal case by the rate of draining of the reservoir. Ultimately, bank erosion and concomitant sedimetation in the channel center win out, leading to creation of a new channel profile with a lower streamwise slope.
AB - We develop and illustrate a numerical model for the evolution of a channel during and after removal of a dam. The most important new feature of the model is that it captures a phenomenon we have observed in experiments on dam removal: "erosional narrowing", a narrowing of the channel due to preferential erosion along the channel centerline and consequent flow restriction and spatial acceleration. The narrowing tendency is counterbalanced by the well known tendency of the channel to widen due to bank erosion. The interplay of these two effects can lead, among other things, to upstream propagation of waves of incision and sedimentation. The onset of narrowing is sensitive to the rate of fall of base level, controlled in the dam-removal case by the rate of draining of the reservoir. Ultimately, bank erosion and concomitant sedimetation in the channel center win out, leading to creation of a new channel profile with a lower streamwise slope.
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:27744601466
SN - 0784407630
T3 - Proceedings of the 2005 Watershed Management Conference - Managing Watersheds for Human and Natural Impacts: Engineering, Ecological, and Economic Challenges
SP - 387
BT - Managing Watersheds for Human and Natural Impacts
A2 - Moglen, G.E.
Y2 - 19 July 2005 through 22 July 2005
ER -