This facility brings together two original experimental devices, corresponding to two annular recirculation channels dedicated to studying the abrasion of pebbles and the abrasion of rocky river substrates during the fluvial transport of the coarse sediment load.
In both channels, the average velocity of the water, that of the particles, the sediment flux, or the basal shear stress are either directly measured or evaluated by calibration.
EQUIPMENT
The “historic” channel
The “historic” channel is an annular recirculation channel 1.5 m in diameter and coupled to a 250 kWh pump (Attal et al., 2006) in the Steval technical building associated with the Géoressources laboratory.
It makes it possible to study the erosion of pebbles 1–10 cm in size (Attal & Lavé, 2009) and of the substrate or protruding objects (Wilson & Lavé, 2014) at water velocities of 1–3.3 m/s.
It can also be used to study the erodibility of rocks (Attal & Lavé, 2006), the products of abrasion (Nibourel et al., 2015) or particle displacement statistics during sediment transport (Casel et al., 2016).
The device also benefits from its location in the Steval building for weighing, sieving, or drying the studied sediments.
The “regular” channel
The “regular” channel is a reduced-size version (1:4 scale) 37.5 cm in diameter. Major differences include transparent walls to better visualise the phenomena and, importantly, a second pump coupled with internal injections to flatten radial velocity gradients, making it possible to explore processes under weak transport conditions.
The channel has recently been equipped with a revolving counting device for tracking instrumented pebbles (RFID pit-tag) and a high-speed camera system for tracking particle trajectories.
This channel is in the external annex at the CRPG and makes it possible to study the erosion of pebbles 1–20 mm in size and of the substrate and protruding objects at water velocities of 0.5–2.1 m/s.
USE OF THE EQUIPMENT
Please contact the facility manager (jerome.lave@univ-lorraine.fr) to arrange collaborative use of the facilities, preferably by having a student or researcher visit to perform experiments.
Publications
Cassel M., Lavé J., Recking A., Malavoi J.-R. and Piégay H., Bedload transport in rivers: size matters but so does shape!, Scientific Report, 11(1), 1-11, 2021.
Cassel, M., Piégay, H., and Lavé J., Vaudor L, Sri Hadmoko D, Budi Wibowo S, Lavigne F., Evaluating a 2D image-based computerized approach for measuring riverine pebble roundness, Geomorphology 311, 143-157.
Le Bouteiller, C., Naaim, F., Mathys, N., & Lavé, J. (2018). Degradation processes in marly sediment transport. River, Coastal and Estuarine Morphodynamics. RCEM 2009, Two Volume Set, 257.
Cassel, M., Piégay, H., and Lavé J. (2016), Effects of transport and insertion of radio frequency identification (RFID) transponders on resistance and shape of natural and synthetic pebbles: applications for riverine and coastal bedload tracking, Earth Surf. Process. Landforms , DOI: 10.1002/esp.3989.
Nibourel, L., Herman, F., Cox, S. C., Beyssac, O., & Lavé, J. (2015). Provenance analysis using Raman spectroscopy of carbonaceous material: A case study in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface., Oct 2015 | DOI: 10.1002/2015JF003541
Wilson, A., and J. Lavé, Convergent evolution of abrading flow obstacles: insights from analogue modeling of fluvial bedrock abrasion by coarse bedload, Geomorphology, 208, 207–224, 2014
Attal, M., and J. Lavé, Pebble abrasion during fluvial transport: Experimental results and implications for the evolution of the sediment load along rivers, J. Geophys. Res., 114, F04023, doi:10.1029/2009JF001328, 2009.
Attal, M., J. Lavé, and J.P. Masson, A new experimental device to study pebble abrasion and transpose to natural systems, J. of Hydraul. Engineering, 132, 624-628, doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9429(2006)132:6(624), 2006.