Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Coastal Ocean Processes
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1428345
This article is part of the Research Topic Innovations in Coastal Morphodynamic Modeling View all 3 articles

Numerical Simulation of Non-uniform Suspended Sediment Flowing into the Yangtze River Estuary, China Based on a River Network Model

Provisionally accepted
Hua Ge Hua Ge 1,2Lingling Zhu Lingling Zhu 3*Bing Mao Bing Mao 1,2
  • 1 Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute (CRSRI), Wuhan, China
  • 2 Other, Wuhan, China
  • 3 Bureau of Hydrology, Changjiang Water Resources Commission, wuhan, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The non-uniform suspended sediment flowing into the Yangtze River Estuary (YRE) has a substantial impact on riverbed evolution and the ecological environment. Conducting a numerical simulation can provide missing measurement data and act as an important support for river management. In this study, we developed a formula for determining the non-uniform suspended sediment-carrying capacity (SCC) based on the statistical theory of sediment transport. The formula was applied to a river network model domaining the tidal section of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River (LYR) to simulate the non-uniform suspended sediment flowing into the YRE. The verification results showed that the model accurately simulated fine-grained sediments with a high measurement accuracy. The simulation results for coarse-grained sediments were consistent with riverbed evolution that manifests as erosion. Owing to the sediment transport complexity in natural rivers, we propose a method for optimizing calculations of the SCC that provides more accurate modeling results and can be adapted when the observational measurement accuracy is improved in the future. These findings provide support for simulations and measurements of non-uniform suspended sediment transported in the LYR.

    Keywords: non-uniform sediment, river network model, Yangtze river estuary, numerical simulation, Cascade reservoirs

    Received: 06 May 2024; Accepted: 19 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ge, Zhu and Mao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Lingling Zhu, Bureau of Hydrology, Changjiang Water Resources Commission, wuhan, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.