Development of a method for suspended sediment transport monitoring by means of ADCP measurements

Monitoring stations in rivers and water courses are an important mean to obtain critical data about the different variables that play a role in the hydrodynamics and ecological processes. Measuring suspended sediment concentration often requires the displacement of equipment and manpower to the field. This is often expensive and not practical, in particular during severe weather and flow conditions. A method to determine the suspended sediment concentration as a result of ADCP remote measurements is here presented. This method relies on the relationship between the attenuation to backscatter ratio and the normalized attenuation coefficient. To test this method, data from a field monitoring station in Kokel, on the banks of the Devoll river in Albania, is used.publishedVersion© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2018. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Development of a method for suspended sediment transport monitoring by means of ADCP measurements

Monitoring stations in rivers and water courses are an important mean to obtain critical data about the different variables that play a role in the hydrodynamics and ecological processes. Measuring suspended sediment concentration often requires the displacement of equipment and manpower to the field. This is often expensive and not practical, in particular during severe weather and flow conditions. A method to determine the suspended sediment concentration as a result of ADCP remote measurements is here presented. This method relies on the relationship between the attenuation to backscatter ratio and the normalized attenuation coefficient. To test this method, data from a field monitoring station in Kokel, on the banks of the Devoll river in Albania, is used

Towards an establishment of a rating curve for suspended sediment transport by means of ADCP measurements

This study presents a series of acoustic current Doppler profiler (ADCP) measurements, which are converted into suspended load concentrations (SSC). Depending on the particle size distribution (PSD), the sound backscatter and its attenuation are used to determine a theoretical minimal and physical upper limit of the SSC. The SSC are displayed over time and compared with the evolution of the water level during the same time interval. The present study shows that it is possible to have continuous measurements of SSC and water level with a horizontally installed two beam equipped ADCP and discusses the potential of such a continuing times series measurement for application in hydraulic engineering and research. However, the presented data set shows also that the calibration and the filtering of the raw data has to be improved and that further investigations are needed. After data verification, it will be possible to calculate the yearly sediment load and investigate physical behaviour of SSC concentration as a function of water level and discharge

Towards an establishment of a rating curve for suspended sediment transport by means of ADCP measurements

This study presents a series of acoustic current Doppler profiler (ADCP) measurements, which are converted into suspended load concentrations (SSC). Depending on the particle size distribution (PSD), the sound backscatter and its attenuation are used to determine a theoretical minimal and physical upper limit of the SSC. The SSC are displayed over time and compared with the evolution of the water level during the same time interval. The present study shows that it is possible to have continuous measurements of SSC and water level with a horizontally installed two beam equipped ADCP and discusses the potential of such a continuing times series measurement for application in hydraulic engineering and research. However, the presented data set shows also that the calibration and the filtering of the raw data has to be improved and that further investigations are needed. After data verification, it will be possible to calculate the yearly sediment load and investigate physical behaviour of SSC concentration as a function of water level and discharge.publishedVersion© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2018. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)