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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Oxford, Mississippi » National Sedimentation Laboratory » Watershed Physical Processes Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #324561
Title: Field and laboratory calibration of impact plates for measuring coarse bed load transport

Author
item CARPENTER, BRIAN - University Of Mississippi
item Wren, Daniel
item Kuhnle, Roger
item Rigby Jr, James
item HILLDALE, ROBERT - Us Bureau Of Reclamation
item GOODWILLER, BRADLEY - University Of Mississippi

Submitted to: International Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/17/2016
Publication Date: 7/13/2016
Citation: Carpenter, B., Wren, D.G., Kuhnle, R.A., Rigby Jr, J.R., Hilldale, R.C., Goodwiller, B.T. 2016. Field and laboratory calibration of impact plates for measuring coarse bed load transport. International Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics. 8th International Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics. River Flow 2016. July 12-15, 2016 St. Louis, MO. pp. 371-372.

Interpretive Summary: During 2008-2009, an array of impact plates, which are metal plates that have instrumentation attached,was installed over a channel spanning weir in the Elwha River in Washington, USA. The impact plate system is the first permanent installation of its kind in North America. The system was deployed to measure the coarse sediment transport evacuated from two reservoirs following the removal of the upstream Elwha and Glines Canyon dams. It has been estimated that, collectively, 21 million cubic meters of sediment was accumulated in the reservoirs (Hilldale et al. 2015). The focus of this manuscript is to discuss recent studies to better understand signals generated by accelerometer plates. Calibrated accelerometer plates will provide additional means to obtain a surrogate measurement of the mass of coarse sediment load passing the weir and potentially measurements of particle sizes in transport. A basic description of recent in-situ and laboratory experiments including data processing methodology will be discussed.

Technical Abstract: During 2008-2009, an array of impact plates instrumented with either accelerometers or geophones was installed over a channel spanning weir in the Elwha River in Washington, USA. The impact system is the first permanent installation of its kind in North America. The system was deployed to measure the coarse sediment transport evacuated from two reservoirs following the removal of the upstream Elwha and Glines Canyon dams. It has been estimated that, collectively, 21 million m3 of sediment was accumulated in the reservoirs (Hilldale et al 2015). The focus of this manuscript is to discuss recent studies to better understand signals generated by accelerometer plates. Calibrated accelerometer plates will provide additional means to obtain a surrogate measurement of the mass of coarse sediment load passing the weir and potentially measurements of particle sizes in transport. A basic description of recent in-situ and laboratory experiments including data processing methodology will be discussed.