ABSTRACT

Reynolds-Froude scale modeling using hot-water flows to model cold-water flows was applied to the study of unidirectional-flow bed configurations in a large, thermally insulated laboratory flume. Three different water temperatures, ranging from 14 to 75°C, provided three different scale ratios, from 1.1 to 2.3. Effective sand sizes, scaled to 10°C water, were about 0.12 mm, 0.18 mm, and 0.28 mm. Relative to 10°C water, use of hot water multiplied the effective flow depth and all flume dimensions by factors of up to 2.3, the flow velocity by factors of up to 1.5, and the water discharge by factors of up to 8. The effective dimensions of the flume, scaled to 10°C water temperature, ranged up to over 26 m long and 2 m wide, with a flow depth of up to 0.5 m.

In the coarser sand sizes (0.17-0.26 mm), three bed phases were observed: ripples, dunes, and upper-regime plane bed. Dunes tended to be two-dimensional (crests straight and continuous) at low flow velocities and three-dimensional (crests sinuous and discontinuous) at relatively high flow velocities, except that at flow velocities transitional between ripples and dunes the bed showed a complex intermingling of irregular larger dunelike bed forms and smaller irregular ripples. In the dune range, ripples were prominently superimposed at relatively low flow velocities but nearly absent at relatively high flow velocities.