Investigation of shear stress distribution in a 90 degree channel bend

Shear stress is a key parameter that plays an important role in sediment transport mechanisms; therefore, understanding shear stress distribution in rivers, and especially in river bends, is necessary to predict erosion, deposition mechanisms and lateral channel migration. The aim of this study is to analyze the shear stress distribution near a river bed at 90-degree channel bend using a depth-average method based on experimental measurement data. Bed shear stress distribution is calculated using the depth-averaged method based on velocity components data has been collected from a 3D-ADV device (three-dimensional acoustic doppler velocity) at different locations of a meandering channel. Laboratory experiments have been made at the hydraulic laboratory of the RCRFIDF (Research Center for River Flow Impingement and Debris Flow), Gangneung-Wonju National University, South Korea to provide data for simulating the incipient motion of the riverbed materials and then predicting the river morphological changes in the curved rivers. The calculated results show that the maximum value of shear stress distribution near the riverbed in the different cross sections of the surveyed channel occurs in a 70-degree cross section and occurs near the outer bank. From the beginning of a 40-degree curved channel section, the maximum value of the shear stress occurs near the outer bank at the end of the channel.