JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

Bed shear stress is one of the most important hydraulic parameters to determine the amount of bed and suspended load and the bed and bank scouring in rivers. Bed shear stress depends on bedforms (ripples, dunes, and anti-dunes) in alluvial rivers. In this study, the effect of artificial ripple bedforms on bed shear stress has been investigated. Two types of uniform granulation with average sizes (d50) of 0.51 and 2.18 mm were used to roughen the surface of the artificial ripples. The bedform length and height were 20 and 4 cm, respectively. The angles of its upstream and downstream to the horizon were selected equal to 16.4 and 32 degrees, respectively. Different flow rates (Q= 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 l/s) and different bed slopes (S= 0, 0.0001, 0.0005, 0.001, and 0.0015) were examined. The results showed that by increasing the particle size on the bed surface, total shear stress (t_b ), grain-related bed-shear stress (t^¢_b ), and form-related bed-shear stress ( t^²_b )  increase. The value of t_b , t^¢_b , and t^²_b in bed form roughened by sediment size of 2.18 mm were, on average, 22.38, 30.86, and 22.3% more than the bed form roughened by sediment size of 0.51 mm, respectively.