XAVIER UNIVERSITY ATENEO DE CAGAYAN

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

Event Flow HydrographBased Method for Modeling

Sediment Transport in Tagoloan River Basin

Submitted by:

Dalugdog, Rose Angela H.

Fuentes, Vanessa May
Manosa, Christine Joy
Sabellano, Melvin II
Salugsugan, Russelle Nova Grace
ACE 08 B1

A Proposal Paper
Presented to the Faculty of Civil Engineering
Xavier University Ateneo de Cagayan, Cagayan de Oro City
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For Methods of Research

Submitted to:
Engr. Julie Ann Ibarra-De La Cruz, CE
Instructor

March 2017
 INTRODUCTION

Flooding incidents are generally caused by tropical cyclones that have made

landfall in the Mindanao region. In recent years, Misamis Oriental has been hit by a

series of strong storms and typhoons which includes Sendong (2011), Pablo (2012) and

Seniang (2014). As compared to other typhoons, Seniang was recorded to have a 100-

250 mm of rainfall in the span of one day in Misamis Oriental and as a result, it

delivered intense to torrential rains over a long period and has caused widespread

floods and landslides in Northern Mindanao, sensors in Tagoloan River in Misamis

Oriental registered a water level of up to eight meters. The swelling of the river

generated floods that could have turned out into a disaster.

The prediction of sediment concentrations during flood events is essential to

modeling of sediment and sediment-associated contaminant transport in rivers.

Although, the relative role of different factors is significant for the ultimate sediment

behavior with respect to hysteresis, the prediction of sediment transport during

unsteady flows substantially depends upon the accuracy with which the flow

parameters such as shear stress, flow velocity, and friction slope are established.

A recently developed flow hydrographbased shear velocity method is a simple

yet efficient approach appropriate for flows in lowland rivers. The primary objective of

this study is to employ a simple yet effective method for hydrologic engineers to

estimate sediment transport during flood events in the Tagoloan River Basin. The

unique features of this new method follow: First, it uses a flow hydrograph as primary

input data.

Secondly, Conventional simple sediment transport formulas, originally

proposed for steady uniform flow are now extended in this study to unsteady flows or

flood events by means of the flow parameters calculated using the hydrograph.
 To achieve the objective, a complete procedure for computing sediment

transport in rivers using the new hydrograph-based method is presented. The

complete procedure is further demonstrated through application in Tagoloan River

Basin in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental for multiple flood events. The performance of the

hydrograph-based method is evaluated by comparing it with the HEC-RAS model.

 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This study aims to Estimate the Sediment Transport during flood events in

Tagoloan River Basin using an Event Flow Hydrograph-Based Method.

1. Does the severe sediment erosion such as scour, bank erosion or gullying

threaten the stability of in-stream hydraulic structures, river banks near the

Tagoloan River basin?

2. Is the investigation of the effect of flow unsteadiness on sediment transport in

Tagoloan River feasible?

3. Is the lack of a practical method for estimating bed shear stress or friction slope

for unsteady flows be a hindrance in the investigation of the effect of flow

unsteadiness on sediment transport in Tagoloan River?

4. Is the illegal mining which are allegedly allowed by local politicians a significant

factor in increasing the amounts of sediment deposition?

5. Is the large amounts of sediment deposition reduce the flow capacity of channel

or reservoir and increases further possibility of flooding?

6. Is the applicability of the hydrograph-based sediment transport method, the

predicted suspended sediment concentrations by the hydrograph-based

sediment transport method comparable with the HEC-RAS model results?

1.3 ASSUMPTIONS

A new method, called the hydrograph-based method, for modeling sediment

transport during flood events in Tagoloan River Basin. The following are the

assumptions can be drawn based on the application findings.

1. Under the assumptions of equilibrium transport, uniform sediment, and

prismatic channel, the application of the proposed method indicates that this method

is comparable with more advanced numerical models such as the HEC-RAS model in
terms of overall accuracy and gives relatively better results during rising as well as

falling phases of large flood events.

2. The hydrograph-based sediment transport method can provide a more

realistic value of sediment concentrations during flood events by considering the

tendency of bed shear stress to be greater during rising stages of the hydrographs than

corresponding falling stages.

4. With this simple method to consider the unsteadiness of the flow, the

applicability range of conventional sediment transport formulas is practically

extended to unsteady flows. This method, therefore, may be useful for evaluating

performance of conventional sediment transport formulas for flood flows.

5. With this simple yet effective tool, the need to compromise with the accuracy

by resorting to the steady uniform flow formula for simplicity during unsteady flow

events is largely eliminated.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study is significant in a way that a simple yet effective method of estimating

the sediment transport during flood events in the Tagoloan River Basin is employed.

A complete procedure for calculating sediment transport is hereby presented using the

new hydrograph-based method.

Moreover, severe sediment erosion such as scour, bank erosion or gullying can

threaten the stability of in-stream hydraulic structures, river banks, levees, and

underground utilities. On the other hand, large amounts of sediment deposition can

significantly reduce the flow capacity of channel or reservoir and increases further

possibility of flooding.
1.5 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The study is limited to the assumption of equilibrium transport and uniform

sediment that are used for the simplicity of computation. The selected reaches are

relatively stable, and no severe sediment erosion or deposition is expected.

The hydrograph-based method is suitable for prismatic reaches in mild sloped

rivers. This method is not appropriate for highly irregular reaches with marked

changes in channel geometry or flow over flood plains. Since this method uses the

kinematic wave approximation, it cannot consider the phase lag between depth and

discharge peaks. However, it has little practical implication for sediment transport as

most natural flood waves in mild-sloped rivers are non-inertial with close

instantaneous and local wave crests. Obviously, this method is difficult to apply for

non-equilibrium sediment transport or with non-uniform sediments where numerical

modeling is most desirable.

Moreover, the proposed method appears to be a more practical alternative to

advanced numerical models that are included in the contaminant transport modeling

framework but are costly in terms of input data. With this simple yet effective tool, the

need to compromise with the accuracy by resorting to the steady uniform flow formula

for simplicity during unsteady flow events is largely eliminated.

 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Alluvial system - is a landform produced when a stream or river, that is, some

channelized flow (geologists call them all streams no matter what their scale)

slows down and deposits sediment that was transported either as bed load or in

suspension.

Anticlockwise hysteresis - observed sediments originates from a distant

field.

Base flow - the normal day to day discharge of the river and is the consequence

of groundwater seeping into the river channel.

Bed load - describes particles in a flowing fluid (usually water) that are

transported along the bed. Bed load is complementary to suspended load and

wash load. Bed load moves by rolling, sliding, and/or slating (hopping).

Bed slope - The inclination of the channel bottom, measured as the elevation

drop per unit length of channel.

Clockwise hysteresis - sediment concentration are observed at site.

Cohesive sediments - Sediment containing significant proportion of clays,

the electromagnetic properties of which cause these sediment to bind together.

Sediment with a grain size less than 63m.

Flow velocity - is a vector quantity used to describe the motion of a fluid. It

can be easily determined for laminar flow but complex to determine for

turbulent flow. Volumetric flow rate is the volume of a liquid that passes

through a given surface per unit time.

Flume - In open channel flow, a manufactured conduit (usually rectangular in

shape) with a portion having a constricted cross section, which may be used to

control and measure stream flow.

 Friction slope - The energy loss per unit of length of open or closed conduit

due to friction.

HEC-HMS - Hydrologic Engineering Centers Hydrologic Modeling System.

HEC-RAS - Hydrologic Engineering Centers River Analysis System.

Hydraulic radius - controls the speed of flow in a channel, and thus its

efficiency. It is the ratio of the cross-sectional area of a channel or pipe in which

a fluid is flowing to the wetted perimeter of the conduit.

Hydrograph - a graph showing the rate of flow (discharge) versus time past a

specific point in a river, or other channel or conduit carrying flow. The rate of

flow is typically expressed in cubic meters or cubic feet per second (cms or cfs).

Hydrologic models - are simplified, conceptual representations of a part of

the hydrologic cycle. They are primarily used for hydrologic prediction and for

understanding hydrologic processes. Two major types of hydrologic models can

be distinguished: Stochastic Models.

Hysteresis effect - Hysteresis represent the history dependence of physical

systems.

Kinematic wave - a number of the terms in the equation of motion are

assumed to be insignificant; therefore, the equation of motion simply states that

the friction slope is equal to the bed slope. It is replaced by an equation

describing uniform (which also implies steady) flow.

Mannings equation - The Mannings equation is an empirical equation that

applies to uniform flow in open channels and is a function of the channel

velocity, flow area and channel slope.

Mannings roughness coefficients - is used in the Manning's formula to

calculate flow in open channels.

 Rainfall intensity - the ratio of the total amount of rain (rainfall depth)

falling during a given period to the duration of the period It is expressed in

depth units per unit time, usually as mm per hour (mm/h).

Rising limb of the hydrograph - represents the rapid increase in resulting

from rainfall causing surface runoff and then later through flow.

Sediment concentration - the mass of sediment in a fluid per unit volume

of the fluid.

Sediment erosion - is the detachment and movement of soil particles by

natural forces, primarily water and wind.

Sediment inflow - one of several types of sediment transport mechanisms, of

which most geologists recognize four principal processes.

Sediment transport - the movement of solid particles (sediment), typically

due to a combination of gravity acting on the sediment, and/or the movement

of the fluid in which the sediment is entrained.

Shear stress - the external force acting on an object or surface parallel to the

slope or plane in which it lies.

Specific gravity - the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of a

standard, usually water for a liquid or solid, and air for a gas.

Steady flow - a flow in which the velocity of the fluid at a particular fixed point

does not change with time.

Suspended Sediment Concentration (SSC) - is generally transported

within and at the same velocity as the surrounding fluid (water or wind). The

stronger the flow and/or the finer the sediment, the greater the amount of

sediment that can be suspended by turbulence.

 Total Suspended Solids (TSS) - are solids in water that can be trapped by a

filter.

Turbulent flow - the fluid undergoes irregular fluctuations, or mixing. The

speed of the fluid at a point is continuously undergoing changes in both

magnitude and direction.

Unsteady flow - a flow in which the velocity of the fluid at a particular fixed

point change with time.

Viscosity - A measure of the resistance of a fluid to flow. For liquids, viscosity

increases with decreasing temperature.

Wash load - refers to that size fraction of the total sediment that is not present

in the streambed in significant amounts.

Wave celerity - wave speed or the ratio of distance travelled by a crest per unit

time.
 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This section presents the review of related literature and relevant empirical

studies that lend support to the study entitled, Event Flow HydrographBased Method

for Modeling Sediment Transport in Tagoloan River Basin. This will also present

variables and information that are relevant and similar to the study.

Predicting sediment concentrations is essential for modeling sediment related

contaminant transport in rivers. Some modeling tools developed for sediment

transport uses simple empirical formulas to high dimensional numerical models

(Garcia 2006), some uses too complex data making it impractical to use. Few of the

modeling tools only focuses on steady flows and therefore not applicable to unsteady

flows.

Ghimire and Deng (2013) presented a simple method for estimating sediment

transport during flood events in rivers. this method is called the hydrograph-based

method where it is characterized by the following features: (1) flow hydrographs are

used as primary input data; (2) the shear stress, shear velocity and friction slope,

calculated using a hydrograph are used to determine the flow depth and velocity for a

flood event; and (3) a conventional simple sediment transport formula is utilized in

combination with the hydrograph-based flow parameters to estimate sediment

transport during a flood event. The new hydrograph model is then examined by using

a hypothetical hydrograph and demonstrated through applications to a number of

flood events in two lowland rivers. The predicted sediment concentrations of the

hydrograph-based model is comparable or more accurate than those from more

advanced numerical model like HEC-RAS model. This method appears to be more

practical alternative to more advanced numerical models and with this, the

applicability range of conventional sediment transport is extended from steady flows

to unsteady flows. Thus the data requirement is reduced making the computations for

sediment transport simpler.

In Pak et als (2015) study, a sediment transport module that is added to the

HEC-HMS, computes surface erosion, reach routing and reservoir trap efficiency. To

test the robustness of the HEC-HMS module, it was applied to the upper-north Bosque

river watershed (UNBRW) in central Texas, a well-instrumented watershed with good

parameterization and calibration data. The UNBRW is 98% rural including rangeland,

forage, and dairy waste application fields. Simulation results were compared to

observed average daily total suspended solid (TSS) data at five gauge locations. The

HEC-HMS results matched the observed TSS across the UNBRW (<1%<1% error at all

gauges) during model calibration and maintained modest residuals (3131 to 12%

error) during the validation period. The HECHMS also performed well compared to

published results through two other commonly used models.

Chen et al. (2010) conducted a study on the influence of gravity on the incipient

motion and the bed-load transport of sediment. The computation of critical bed-shear

stress is revisited considering the balance of forces (hydrodynamic forces and

submerges self-weight) acting on a solitary sediment particle lying on an arbitrary

sloping bed. Modified effective bed-shear stress and the corresponding critical bed-

shear stress, which are defined to assess the incipient motion of sediment in the

direction of resultant force, are applied for the estimation of bed-load transport rate

in the direction of resultant force. The sediment transport caused by the gravitational

force, which is oblique to the direction of the drag force caused by flow, is incorporated

into the bed-load transport equation. The model is validated by experimental data. It

can be applied to steep slopes and can also avoid the problem of singularity that arises

in numerically calculation of sediment transport rate. This modified model provides a

reasonable prediction of the critical bed-shear stress and the bed-load transport rate.
Additionally, the vectorial transport rate obtained in the model calculation can be

implemented in a numerical simulation of channel bed evolution.

Wang et al (2008) presented a comprehensive analysis of suspended sediment

transport in open channels under various flow conditions through a kinetic-model-

based simulation. This model, considering both sediment-turbulence and sediment-

sediment interactions, successfully represents experimentally observed diffusion and

transport characteristics of suspended sediments with different densities and sizes.

The non-monotonic concentration distribution and the noticeable lag velocity with a

negative value close to the wall are reasonably reproduced without tuning any model

coefficients. Examining the flow conditions that are typical of suspension dominated

rivers shows that the conventional method may overestimate or underestimate the

unit suspended-sediment discharge, depending on the Rouse number, sediment size,

as well as shear velocity. The error may be less than 20% for dp<0.5mmdp<0.5mm

and might exceed 60% for dp>1.0mmdp>1.0mm under typical flow conditions where

shear velocity ranges from 1.0to12.5cms1.0to12.5cms and flow depth ranges from

1.0to5.0m1.0to5.0m.

Bridge Scour is a complicated process involving the interactions between flow

and piers and between flow and sediments. The existing numerical studies often pair

sediment transport models to a turbulence flow model to simulate scour process. This

traditional sediment transport models are often based on concept such as critical shear

stress. Thus, Tao and Yu (2014) proposes a framework to incorporate the effects of

turbulence into sediment transport models and describes ideas to incorporate the

influence of turbulence into the existing sediment transport models to more

realistically account for the effects of turbulent flow field. However, the influence of

turbulence fluctuation and the lifting force are not considered in the traditional

sediment models.
 Methodology

This study is conducted in order to estimate the sediment that is being

transported during a flood events in Tagoloan River.

To be able to gather the necessary data, the researchers will present its research

design, procedures with expected output, materials, and tools for this study.

Materials

QGIS (previously known as Quantum GIS) is a cross-platform free and

open-source desktop geographic information system (GIS) application that provides

data viewing and imageries (including satellite images with analysis) for the data

collection of the river basin areas.

A hydrograph-based method that will be used in estimating sediment transport

during flood events. This method has characterized features like: (1) widely available

flow hydrographs are used as primary input data; (2) the shear stress, shear velocity,

and friction slope, calculated using a hydrograph, are employed to determine flow

depth and velocity for a flood event; and (3) a conventional simple sediment transport

formula is utilized in combination with the hydrograph-based flow parameters to

estimate sediment transport during a flood event. This method also extends the range

of applicability of conventional sediment transport formulas, developed for steady

flows, to unsteady flood events. The data requirement will be greatly reduced, and

sediment transport computations for flood events will be simplified.

A Hydrologic Engineering Centers River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) method

will be used to simulate an estimated results of the shear velocity which seems to be

better or at least comparable with other established methods. HEC-RAS is a public

domain 1-D numerical model. It allows users to perform 1-D steady flow, unsteady

flow calculations, movable boundary sediment transport computations and water

temperature analysis (Brunner 2010). The sediment transport module incorporates

most of the features of its predecessor model HEC-6, which is a 1-D quasi-unsteady

mobile bed model widely used in many river sediment studies (Bhowmik et al. 2008).

HEC-RAS is suitable for simulation of sediment transport resulting from scour and

deposition over a moderate time period, although the application to single events is

also possible. The model uses quasi-unsteady flow approach utilizing three time

durations of decreasing order: flow duration, computation increment, and the mixing

time step (Brunner 2010).

Flow HydrographBased Method for Shear Stress by Ghimire and Deng will be

used to estimate shear stress and friction slope during unsteady flows. This method is

based on Saint-Venant equations, simplified for floods in relatively straight reaches of

lowland rivers using the wave velocity concept as discussed in Henderson (1963). This

method is simple to use but requires less field data, mainly flow hydrograph and bed

geometry, and gives good results when applied to natural floods in mild-sloped rivers.

The bed shear stress (b) is given by a formula.

Flow HydrographBased Sediment Transport Modeling

Some steps were involved that can be summarized as follows:

1. Find Q=T using daily flow records and backward difference approach.

2. Find h from Mannings resistance formula using Q, So, B, and n. Then determine

Rh and U.

3. Find B1C2 and Sf So Q=t using the friction law method for

kinematic celerity C.

4. Find new values of h, Rh, and U using calculated Sf, instead of So in step 2.

5. Repeat steps 24 until the successive values of Sf do not differ by more than a

threshold value of 106. (This threshold value for iteration is established based the

fact that the change in U_ is negligible when the relative change in Sf in a successive

step is less than 106.) Three to four iterations are usually sufficient.
6. Compute b and U_ using Eq. (1).

7. Using computed b, U_, and Sf and other parameters at any time instant, apply a

selected sediment transport formula to predict the sediment transport capacity of the

flow

Applications of HydrographBased Method to Flood Events. This new method

will be applied for simulating sediment transport at the tagoloan river basin. In order

to test the applicability of the hydrograph-based sediment transport method, the

predicted suspended sediment concentrations by the hydrograph-based sediment

transport method are compared with the HEC-RAS model results.

Tool

Saint-Venant equations

where So = friction slope during base flow, Q = flow discharge, t = time, and = a

parameter relating the slope of the flood hydrograph with b during unsteady flow.

The variation of b and other parameters affected during a flood event can be analyzed

using Eq. (1).

Procedure

We start with gathering all the data needed / necessary for this study and

identifying the exact location of the study area using QGIS. Gather previous data about

the tagoloan river basin and also during the study.

The proposed hydrograph-based sediment transport method will be evaluated

by comparing it with the HEC-RAS model results. First, the sediment concentration is

determined using hydrograph based sediment transport method involving the seven

steps described previously in the Flow HydrographBased Sediment Transport

Modeling section. Parameters will be followed for the site.

Next, the HEC-RAS model will be applied to simulate the total sediment

concentration using the same geometric (So, B), hydraulic (Q), and sediment (d50)

parameters as those used in the hydrograph-based method.

Finally, the total sediment concentration by hydrograph based sediment

transport method and the HEC-RAS model will be compared with the measured SSC

(suspended sediment concentration). The computed flow depths using the

hydrograph-based shear velocity method and the HEC-RAS model will be shown with

figure along with the flow discharge. A table will be shown for the comparison of

computed and measured sediment concentrations sing hydrograph- based method

and HEC-RAS model.

A Clockwise hysteresis of sediment concentration might be observed during

most of the single and multi-peak flood events for this study. The measured sediment

concentration during the past flood events will be plotted and compared with

computed results using hydrograph-based method.

FLOW CHART

Gather and collect all the necessary data.

Access QGIS dataset and imageries for the river.

Determine the sediment concentration using hydrograph

based sediment transport method.

Simulate an estimated result of shear velocity using HEC-RAS.

.method

Comparing the proposed hydrograph-based sediment transport

method with HEC-RAS model result.

Create a figure, graph or table along with the flow discharge

for each method.
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