Assessment of bed-load predictors based on sampling in a gravel bed river

Abstract

Bedload transport in alluvial channels has been extensively studied and different equations based on field and/or experimental data have been proposed. Prediction of bed-load transport rate using different equations results in wide ranges which are not always reliable. In this study, some of the universal bedload predictors were evaluated with measured load by a Helley-Smith sampler in the Node River, a gravel bed river in the northeast part of Iran. From 19 sets of data, 14 series of data were used to evaluate the bed-load transport equations. The results show that the equations presented by Van Rijn, Meyer-Peter and Mueller, and Ackers and White may adequately predict bedload transport in the range of field data.