ON THE TURBULENT TRANSPORT OF A HETEROGENEOUS SEDIMENT

Abstract

The transport of sediment in steady turbulent flow is described by means of a diffusion equation. It is shown how the inclusion of sediment volume in the continuity equation leads to a distribution of concentration with depth tending to unity at the bed. With a mixture of grain sizes in suspension, the smaller particles can increase in concentration upwards, while the heavier particles are necessarily transported mainly near the bed, in accordance with observations.