Project Number: 6408-13000-018-14
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Jul 15, 2004
End Date: Jul 14, 2009

Objective:
To improve our understanding of hydraulic and geotechnical processes operating at the bank toe of retreating streambanks and to use this understanding to develop more accurate numerical algorithms for predicting bank-toe erosion, bank stability and width adjustment in alluvial channels. This research will help to develop strategies for watershed management and to evaluate conservation effects where channel processes are important.

Approach:
Conduct field and laboratory experimentation on fluvial entrainment of bank-toe materials which consists of: (A) improved evaluation of shear stress in the near-bank region; (B) improved evaluation of the critical shear stress of in situ and re-worked bank-toe materials; and (C) analysis of the excess shear-stress equation with archived and newly-acquired data to determine the variability and controls of its exponent.