Proceedings of the 19th IAHR-APD Congress 2014, Hanoi, Vietnam

ISBN 978604821338-1

FLOW RESISTANCE AND NON-NEWTONIAN CHARACTERISTICS OF HYPER-

CONCENTRATED SEDIMENT LADEN FLOW IN AN OPEN CHANNEL

LIANY A. HENDRATTA(1), TERUNORI OHMOTO(2) & SHOGO NISHI(3)

(1)
Department of Civil Engineering, Sam Ratulangi University, Manado, Indonesia,
e-mail: lianyhendratta@yahoo.co.id
(2)
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan,
e-mail: ohmoto@kumamoto-u.ac.jp
(3)
Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan,
e-mail: blues-my-way2445@ezweb.ne.jp

ABSTRACT
Concerning hyper-concentrated sediment-laden flow in an open channel, only a small number of studies have been
conducted to obtain detailed measurement data on flow velocity changes because of the difficulty in measurement, and
the influence of non-Newtonian fluid properties on resistance and the internal structure of flow remains poorly
understood. We conducted an open channel experiment using a water solution of sodium polyacrylate (PSA), whose
properties are close to those of a 30% (by volume) suspension of Yellow River sediment and a 10% (by volume) kaolin
suspension, both of which are non-Newtonian fluids. This study has shown that non-Newtonian fluid properties can be
expressed with a power-law model and shed light on the relationship between its parameters and sediment
concentration by volume. The reproducibility of hyper-concentrated sediment- laden flow by use of a PSA solution as a
simulant fluid has been evaluated from the viewpoint of the law of resistance. Finally, rheological mechanisms of hyper-
concentrated sediment-laden flow were investigated by particle image velocimetry (PIV).

Keywords: Hyper-concentrated sediment laden flow; Non-Newtonian fluid; Open channel flow; PIV.

1. INTRODUCTION settling rate of a fluid allowing for the electrical double

layer structure. Coussot (1992) presented a relation
The Yellow River is one of the most sediment-laden rivers
between shear stress and the shear rate for hyper-
in the world. It has been reported by Yang. C.T (2004)
concentrated sediment-laden flow by using a Herschel
that when in flood, the Yellow River forms a hyper-
Bulkley model with three parameters. The authors (2004)
concentrated sediment-laden flow having a sediment
conducted a viscosity experiment using bed material
content by volume of up to about 30%. A flow containing
samples taken in the city of Jinan located along the lower
a high percentage of fine sediment or gravel may occur in
Yellow River and commercially available clay (kaolin),
the form of a mudflow or a debris flow. A recent
reported that the shear rate dependence of the viscosity
example drawing public attention is the problem
coefficient was clearly observed in the experiment and
involving the mud in the tidal area of the inner Ariake
the viscosity coefficient of hyper-concentrated sediment-
Sea. Elucidating the structure of such flows is important
laden flows can be higher than that of clear water by a
in terms of engineering in order to enhance flood safety
factor of 102 to 103, and pointed out that the shear rate
and environmental functions.
dependence of the viscosity coefficient cannot be
The Bingham model, which pays attention to yield stress, explained by the Bingham fluid model.
is often used to analyze shear characteristics of hyper-
Concerning hyper-concentrated sediment-laden flow,
concentrated sediment-laden flows. Yang. C.T (1996)
Ashida et al. (1986) evaluated the Karman constant on the
modified Einstein's viscosity formula for application to a
basis of the vertical distribution of main flow velocity
water suspension of Yellow River sediment on the basis
measured by the applied Pitot tube method. They
of the percentage content of 0.025 mm or smaller
reported that although the Karman constant in the near-
particles. Bradley and McCutcheon (1985) regarded water
bed region is smaller in hyper-concentrated sediment-
flow with a sediment content by volume of 20% or less as
laden flow than in clear water flow, the Karman constant
a standard water flow in which the influence on density
outside that region is roughly the same as that in clear
and viscosity is small and pointed out that sediment-
water flow, pointing out that the flow structure in hyper-
laden flows show their characteristics at a sediment
concentrated sediment-laden flow is essentially the same
content of 20% or more and a sediment-laden flow with a
as that in clear water flow. Huang and Garcia (1998)
clay or silt content by volume of 5% or more shows non-
theoretically derived the vertical distribution of main
Newtonian fluid properties. Ashida et al. (1985) modeled
flow velocity by assuming that flow is laminar and using
hyper-concentrated sediment-laden flow as Bingham
the HerschelBulkley model. Fu (2005) treated fluid and
fluid flow and investigated the viscosity coefficient and

1
 Table 1. Statistical parameters in Kaolin suspension
(a) (b)
100 100
Kaolin Sample 1
YRS Sample 2 d50=22.8m
80 (Yellow River Sediment) 80 Sample 3
solid separately, regarding sediment-laden flow as "YRS"d =15.2
in the
m figures) and kaolin. The Yellow River
50
fluidsolid d50=16.2m sediment samples used were taken from Yellow River
Cumulative (%)

Cumulative (%)
60 60 d =8.8m
d50=5.3m bed50 material in Jinan City located along the lower
40
Yellow
40

20 20
clay silt clay silt
very fine fine medium coarse very fine fine medium coarse
0 -1 0 1 2
0
10 10 4 8 10 16 31 62 10
10
0 4 8 101 16 31 62 2
10
Particle size (m)
Particle Size (m)

Figure 1 Size-frequency distribution

Sample d50 Cu= Cg= = Volumetric

No. (m) d60/d10 (d30)2/d60*d10 (d84/d16)1/2 Concentration
Case1 1 8.8 7.7 0.67 3.2 15%
Case2 2 15.2 7.7 0.51 3.6 15%
Case3 3 22.8 3.9 0.80 2.8 15%
Case4 1 8.8 7.7 0.67 3.2 20%
Case5 2 15.2 7.7 0.51 3.6 20%
Case6 3 22.8 3.9 0.80 2.8 20%

two-phase flow, and took into account the effects of fluid

lift force and sediment stress gradient in considering the
vertical distribution of sediment concentration. River in China. The median particle size of the Yellow
River sediment was d50 = 16.2 m, and that of the kaolin
The authors conducted an open channel experiment
was d50 = 5.3 m. As can be seen from the particle size
using a water solution of sodium polyacrylate (PSA),
distributions, the kaolin particles are fairly uniform in
whose properties are close to those of a 30% (by volume)
size, while the Yellow River sediment varies in size,
suspension of Yellow River sediment and a 10% (by
which is a characteristic of natural sand. Figure 1 (b)
volume) kaolin suspension, both of which are non-
shows the particle size distributions of the kaolin-based
Newtonian fluids. On the basis of the experiment results,
samples. The median particle sizes (d 50) of Samples 1, 2
they pointed out that the resistance of hyper-concentrated
and 3 are 8.8, 15.2 and 22.8 m, respectively. Table 1
sediment-laden flow is greater than that of clear water
shows the conditions for the viscosity experiment
flow mainly be-cause of an increase in viscous stress due
conducted by using Samples 1, 2 and 3.As a polymer
to non-Newtonian fluid properties even though Reynolds
agent, sodium polyacrylate (PSA) was used. The PSA
stress decreases considerably.
solution is a clear fluid.
This study has shown that non-Newtonian fluid
properties can be expressed with a power-law model and 2.2 Experimental apparatus
shed light on the relationship between its parameters and
sediment volume concentration. The reproducibility of Brookfield's DVII +PRO digital viscometer was used for
hyper-concentrated sediment-laden flow by use of a PSA the measurement of viscosity . The DVII viscometer is a
solution as a model fluid has been evaluated from the coaxial cylinder type rotational viscometer that excels in
viewpoint of the law of resistance. Finally, rheological low-viscosity and low-shear-rate measurement.
mechanisms of hyper-concentrated sediment-laden flow Temperature control can be adjusted by connecting a
were investigated by particle image velocimetry. well-insulated tube from the circulation-type
temperature-controlled water tank capable of controlling
water temperature at an accuracy of 0.3C to the
2. VISCOUS PROPERTIES
viscometer.
2.1 Material used and conditions
2.3 Experimental results
The Yellow River sediment, kaolin suspension, three
types of suspensions composed of kaolin-based different 2.3.1 Relationship between viscous properties and volumetric
samples that have different particle size distributions, concentration
and a water solution of polymer agent were used in the
Figure 2 shows the relationship between shear stress and
viscosity experiment. Figure 1 (a) shows the particle size
the shear rate for 10% and 20% (Cv, i.e., volumetric
distributions of Yellow River sediment (abbreviated as

2
 concentration) kaolin suspensions. The dotted lines in
the figure indicate the Bingham model shown in Eq. [1]
for different volumetric concentrations.
[1]
where, is shear stress; y, yield stress; B, apparent
viscosity; and du/dy, the shear rate. The horizontal
axis
similar to that of the apparent viscosity of the kaolin
suspension at Cv = 10%. Since the relationships of shear
stress and apparent viscosity with the shear rate are
linear in loglog space, Figure 5 uses the Herschel
Bulkley model that takes into consideration of yield stress
as shown in Eq. [2]:
[2]

Shear stress(Pa) where, y is yield stress;

/w k and n, parameters; and
Kaolin suspension k(du/dy) n1
, apparent viscosity. Figure 6 uses a power-law
YRS suspension
1.0 Cv=10% (y=2.41 Pa)
Cv (%)
30.0
Cv=20% (y=57.7 Pa) Kaolin suspension 2
Cv (%) 10
0.5 5.4
YRS suspension
0 Cv (%)
10 6.0
30.0
(-y)/y

7.0
Kaolin suspension
0.0 8.0
Cv (%)
10.0 1
10 5.4
From Coussot
6.0
Cv (%)
-0.5 4.5
7.0
8.0
7.5
10.0
-1
9.2
0
-1.0 10 1 2 3 4 10 1 2
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 10 10 10 10 10
Shear rate (1/s) Shear rate (1/s) Shear rate (1/s)10
Figure 2 Application of Bingham model Figure 3 Shear stress and shear rate Figure 4 Viscosity and shear rate in
to Kaolin suspension in Kaolin suspension Kaolin suspension
1
10 3 0.8

0
10 Kaolin suspension
0.6
Shear stress (Pa)

Experiments
-1 2 Cv (%) n=1.04-0.0772Cv
10 Kaolin 5.4
6.0
0 or n
Cv (%)
(Pa)

7.0 0.4
10
-2 5.4 8.0 0
10.0
6.0 1 Approximated n
-3 7.0 curve 0.2
10 Power-law model
8.0 Cv/1.59
0=0.00993e
-4
10.0
10 -2 -1 0 1 2 0 0.0
10 10 10 10 10 0 100 200 300 400 5 6 87 9 10
Shear rate (1/s) Shear rate (1/s) Cv (%)
Figure 5 Application of Herschel-Bulkley Figure 6 Application of Power-law model Figure 7 Parameters of 0 and n in Kaolin
model to Kaolin suspension to Kaolin suspension suspension

shows the shear rate, and the vertical axis shows shear
stress made dimensionless by the yield stress in the
Bingham model. At shear rates of about 300 1/s or less,
the relationship between shear stress and the shear rate is
not linear, and the approximation curves of the Bingham
model do not necessarily agree with measured values.
Figures 3 and 4 show shear stress details and apparent
viscosity in the low shear rate range (300 1/s or less).
Figure 3 shows measured values and Coussot's data
(1995) for the relationship between shear stress and
volumetric concentration. As shown, shear stress is
dependent on volumetric concentration, and if the shear
rate remains un-changed, shear stress tends to increase as
volumetric concentration increases. Figure 4 shows the
relationship between apparent viscosity and vol-umetric
concentration. The horizontal axis shows the shear rate,
and the vertical axis measures the appar-ent viscosity
made dimensionless by the viscosity coefficient of clear
water. As shown, apparent vis-cosity tends to decrease as
the shear rate rises and tends to increase as volumetric
concentration increases. With respect to the apparent
viscosity at Cv = 5.4%, the shear rate is 264 1/s, which is
2.6 times higher than that of clear water. At Cv = 10%, the
shear rate is 6.6 1/s, which is about 136 times higher than
that of clear water. The apparent viscosi-ty of the Yellow
River sediment suspension at Cv = 30% shows a tendency
model that does not take yield stress into consideration as
shown in Eq. [3]:
[3]
where, 0 and n are parameters, and 0(du/dy)n1 is the
apparent viscosity.
Both models express the measured values with good
accuracy, and their parameters are shown in Table 2. The
values of y, k, 0 and n have been obtained from
approximation curves, and y is a value at a shear rate of
0.01 1/s as shown in Figure 5. Since its values are very
small (0.0005 Pa at Cv=5.4 and 0.12 Pa at Cv=10%),
hereafter the power-law model, which uses a smaller
number of parameters, is used for the purposes of this
study.
Figure 7 shows the relationship of 0 and n with
volumetric concentration in the power-law model. In the
range of Cv from 5.4% to 10%, 0 increases exponentially
as volumetric concentration increases. Conversely, n
tends to decrease linearly as volumetric concentration
increases. The dependence of each parameter on the

3
 volumetric concentration Cv is approximated by Eq. [4] relationship between apparent viscosity and particle size
and Eq. [5]: distribution. The first thing to note is that shear stress and
the apparent viscosity are dependent on the shear rate
and shows characteristics of a non-Newtonian fluid.
[4]
From the viewpoint of volumetric concentration, the fact
that the values at Cv=20% tend to be greater than the
values at Cv=15% indicates that changes in volumetric
concentration greatly affect the apparent viscosity.
[5]
Compari-son of the viscous properties of the three types
of samples having different particle size distributions
As can be seen from Figure 7, agreement in this reveals that when the shear rate was 264 1/s, at Cv =
relationship is good in the range of Cv from 5.4% to 10%. 15%, the apparent viscosity for d 50=15.2 m was close
(1.13 times) to that for d50=8.8 m, and the apparent
2.3.2 Relationship between viscous properties and temperature viscosity for d50= 22.8 m was relatively large (2.1 times)
Figure 8 shows the temperature dependence of shear compared with the apparent vis-cosity for d 50=8.8 m. A
stress in a 10% (Cv) kaolin suspension. Shear stress similar tendency was ob-served at Cv = 20%. According
does to the particle size distributions shown in Figure 1 (b), the
percentage of d = 31 m or smaller Sample 2 particles is

2
Kaolin suspension (Cv=10%)
10

/w
T ( )
Shear stress (Pa)

5 0
10 10
20 1
Shear stress (Pa)

30
10

0 Cv=15% Cv=20% Cv=15% Cv=20%

10 d50=8.8m
d50=8.8m 0
-1 10 d50=15.2m
10 d50=15.2m
d50=22.8m d50=22.8m

10 Shear rate
1 2 1 2
10
1
10
2
10 10 10
Shear rate (1/s) Shear rate (1/s) (1/s)
Figure 8 Relation between shear stress Figure 9 Effect of sediment size on Figure 10 Effect of sediment size on
And temperature in Kaolin Relation between shear stress Relation between shear stress
suspension in Kaolin suspension in Kaolin suspension
2
YRS suspension (cm /s) YRS suspension
(Pa)

/w

Cv (%) YRS suspension Cv (%)

30.0 Cv (%) 2 30.0
Kaolin suspension 2 30.0
10 Kaolin suspension
Cv (%) 10 Kaolin suspension Cv (%)
5.4 Cv (%) 5.4
6.0 5.4 6.0
0 1
10 7.0 6.0 10 7.0
8.0 7.0 8.0
1 8.0 10.0
10.0 10 10.0 PSA solutions
PSA solutions
PSA solutions 300mg/l
300mg/l 0
400mg/l
300mg/l 10 400mg/l
400mg/l
500mg/l 500mg/l
500mg/l
800mg/l 800mg/l
0 800mg/l
1 2 3 4 10 1 2 3 4 10
1
10
2
10
3
10
4
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 Shear rate (1/s)
Shear rate (1/s) Shear rate (1/s)
Figure 11 Relation between shear stress Figure 12 Relation between viscosity Figure 13 Relation between kinematic
and shear rate and shear rate viscosity and shear rate

not show any significant changes due to temperature

Table 2. Parameters in models
changes. As shown, the ratio of the apparent viscosity at
5C to the apparent viscosity at 30C is 1.004 (i.e., very Herschel Bulkley model Power law model
little difference) at a shear rate of 6.6 1/s and 1.23 at a Cv(%)
c (Pa) k (Pasn) (Pasn)
shear rate of 264 1/s, which is lower than the ratio (1.91) 5.4 0.0005 0.0146 0.693 0.0150 0.688
for water. The degree of dependence, therefore, of 6 0.0024 0.0400 0.552 0.0403 0.551
apparent viscosity on tem-perature is negligibly small 7 0.0082 0.0743 0.483 0.0713 0.491
although shear stress tends to increase slightly when 8 0.0210 0.151 0.413 0.133 0.439
temperature is low. 10 0.120 0.537 0.287 0.519 0.294

1.08 times as high as that of Sample 1 particles, and

2.3.3 Relationship between viscous properties and particle size
the per-centage of d = 31 m or smaller Sample 3
distribution
particles is 1.46 times as high as that of Sample 1
Figure 9 shows the relationship between shear stress and particles. This indicates that the content of medium (d=31
particle size distribution, and Figure 10 shows the

4
m) or smaller-grained silt greatly affects the apparent where ; Um, cross-sectionally averaged flow velocity. The
viscosity. Cv I0 H Um Fr
(%) (l/s) (cm) (cm/s)
2.3.4 Viscous properties of PSA solution Clear 0 6.0 1/400 3.07 48.9 0.891
water
Figures 11 and 12 show the shear rate dependence of 5.04 6.0 1/400 3.15 47.6 0.857
shear stress and the apparent viscosity of hyper- Kaolin 6.50 6.0 1/400 3.15 47.6 0.857
Sus- 7.33 6.0 1/400 3.23 46.4 0.825
concentrated sediment suspensions and PSA solu-tions. pesion 8.15 6.0 1/400 3.25 46.2 0.818
Shear stress and the apparent viscosity of a PSA solution 9.38 6.0 1/400 4.15 36.1 0.567
is linearly related to the shear rate on loglog paper. This 10.2 6.0 1/400 4.72 31.8 0.467
indicates that a PSA solution and a hyper-concentrated 11.3 6.0 1/400 5.30 28.3 0.393
11.9 6.0 1/400 5.61 26.7 0.361
sediment suspension have simi-lar viscous properties.
Figure 13 shows the shear rate dependence of the
kinematic viscosity of kaolin suspensions and the Case Cv I0 H Um Fr
kinematic viscosity of PSA so-lutions. As shown, the (%) (l/s) (cm) (cm/s)
kinematic viscosities of the PSA solutions at W1 0 8.0 1/1000 2.53 20.6 0.505
concentrations of 300 mg/l, 400 mg/l, 500 mg/l and 800 P-a1 400 10.0 1/1000 5.20 48.1 0.674
mg/l are close to the kinematic viscosities of the kaolin P-b1 250 3.0 1/1000 2.62 28.6 0.565
P-b2 300 3.0 1/1000 2.63 28.5 0.562
suspensions at volu-metric concentrations (Cv) of 6%,
P-b3 400 3.0 1/1000 2.65 28.3 0.555
7%, 8% and 10%, respectively. This indicates that the PSA P-b4 500 3.0 1/1000 2.85 26.3 0.498
solutions have non-Newtonian fluid properties. P-b5 600 3.0 1/1000 3.05 24.5 0.448
P-b6 800 3.0 1/1000 3.50 21.4 0.366

3. RESISTANCE PROPERTIES AND
CONCENTRATION DISTRIBUTION
In the area of ordinary suspended sediment flows,
concerning the resistance of hyper-concentrated
sediment-laden flow, it has been reported that in a
smooth open-channel flow experiment using silt having a
median grain size (d50) of 0.026 mm, resistance increased
with sediment concentration. Also, Wang (1993) reported
that in an experiment conducted by using clay,
volumetric concentration somewhat increased at about
9%. So far, however, no systematic measurement data
have been obtained on sediment-laden flows containing
high concentrations of clay or silt, and consensus is yet to
be reached as to the increase or decrease in resistance due
to increases in concentration.
3.1 Experiment
In the experiment, the kaolin suspensions and PSA
solutions used in the viscosity experiment were made to
flow in a circulating variable-slope flume made of acrylic
resin measuring 10 m in length, 0.4 m in width and 0.2 m
in height. The experiment conditions are shown in Tables
3 and 4. Resistance was calculated by measuring water
depth of a uniform flow field with gauge point. Also, for
the purpose of checking on the uniformity of distribution
of kaolin suspension concentration, samples were taken
at four points located in the region from the bed surface
to the water surface.
3.2 Resistance properties
Figure 14 shows the relationship between the total
resistance coefficient and concentration in the flume
experiments in which kaolin suspensions and PSA
solutions were used. The total resistance coefficient is
defined as the ratio of total resistance to the inertia force
of the fluid and can be expressed as
[6]
vertical axis in the figure shows the ratio of the total
resistance coefficient of the kaolin suspension, C fK, to the
total resistance coefficient of clear water, C fW and the ratio
of the total resistance coefficient of the PSA solution,
CfPSA, to CfW. As shown, the resistance coefficient C fK/CfW
changed within the range from 1.08 to 6.10. Significant
changes did not occur in a kaolin suspension in the range
of Cv=5.04-8.15%, and a linear increase tendency was
observed in the range of Cv=8.15-11.9%. This tendency to
increase with volumetric concentration is close to the
pipe flow experiment results obtained by the authors and
the result reported by Egashira et al. (1992) to the effect
that in an open channel experiment conducted using fine
sand, resistance increased as transported sediment
concentration increased. As shown, the total resistance
coefficient of the flow of the PSA solution tends to rise
sharply at a PSA solution concentration of 400 mg/l or
more. It can also be seen that this tendency to increase
resembles the resistance properties of hyper-concentrated
sediment-laden flow reproduced by using kaolin. The
dotted line shown in Figure 14 is an approximation curve
obtained by least-squared approximation.
Tabel 3. Experimental conditions of Kaolin Suspensions
Tabel 4. Experimental conditions of PSA Solutions
4. FLOW STRUCTURE OF PSA SOLUTION
4.1 Similarity of hyper-concentrated sedimen laden
flow and PSA solution
Kaolin suspensions and PSA solutions show similar
tendencies in terms of non-Newtonian fluid properties
and open-channel resistance properties. The relationship
between the sediment concentration of the kaolin
suspension and the concentration of the PSA solution
shown in Figure 15 was obtained by extracting
concentrations at which non-Newtonian fluid properties
show a high degree of similarity from Figures 11 and 12
and concentrations at which resistance properties show a

5
high degree of similarity from Figure 14. It can be seen
that under the experiment conditions, the concentrations
of the kaolin suspension and the PSA solution are
linearly related in terms of non-Newtonian fluid
properties and resistance properties. Since, however,
non-Newtonian fluid properties are not likely to be
observable (Bradley,J.B. and McCutch-eon,S.C., 1985)
when the sediment concentration by volume of the kaolin
suspension is 5% or less, the linear relationship
mentioned above holds true only when the volumetric
concentration of sediment is 5% or more.

4.2 Experiment

As mention earlier, hyper-concentrated sediment-laden

flow can be reproduced by using a PSA solution as a
simulant fluid. Flow PSA concentration (mg/l) was
velocity measurement
a width of 10 cm and a pulse interval of 1,000 sec, and
conducted, therefore,
200by 400
applying
600PIV800to open-channel
1000 laser light was directed vertically upward from the flume
flow of a PSA solution. The origin of the coordinate
bottom toward the water surface from the flume bottom
system was defined at the midpoint of the flume bottom 10
6 midpoint located at y properties
Non-Newtonian = 20 cm. Images of visualized
where a uniform flow field
Kaolinwas formed. The x-axis, y-
suspension particles passing through the laser light sheet were
axis and z-axis were defined as the stream direction, the
PSA solution 8
recorded in pairs with a CCD camera (Kodak Megaplus
Cfk/Cfw , CfPSA/Cfw

cross-stream (transverse) direction and the vertical

4 ES1.0; 1,008 1,008 pixels) installed on one of the
direction, respectively, and the respective flow velocity Cv (%)6 Viscous characteristic
sidewalls of the flume. Flow velocity
Flow resistancesampling frequency
change components were represented by u, v and w. As a
was 15Hz, and 1,000 images were statistically processed
PIV light source, an air-cooled double-pulse YAG laser 4 From Bradley & McCutcheon
for each measurement plane. Nylon (1985)
particles 5 m in
was used. The2 laser light sheet was set to a thickness of 1
diameter andNewtonian
havingproperties
a specific gravity of 1.02 were used
mm, 2
as tracers. Table 4 shows the experiment conditions.

0 0
4 6 8 10 12 0 200 400 600 800
Kaolin Cv (%) PSA concentration (mg/l)
Figure 14. Relation between flow resistance and Figure 15. PSA solution equivalent to Kaolin
concentration supension

Figure 16. Vertical distribution of Main Flow velocity Figure 17. Vertical distribution of urms/U*

6
Figure 18. Vertical distribution of wrms/U* Figure 19. Vertical distribution of -uw/U*2

4.3 Mean flow velocity and shear rate distributions
Figure 16 shows the vertical distribution of the values
obtained by making main flow velocity dimensionless by
the maximum flow velocity Umax. As shown, in Cases P-
a1, P-b1 and P-b2, the main flow velocity distributions
are close to those of clear water flow. In P-b3 to P-b6, the
distributions differ considerably from those of clear water
flow; main flow velocity is kept low in the near-bottom
zone, and the distributions show gentle curves. The fact
changes sharply as the concentration of the PSA solution
increases from 300 mg/l to 400 mg/l indicates that the
internal structure of flow has changed substantially. A
possible main cause of the substantial difference in the
spatial distribution of main flow velocity is a
considerable change in the mode of momentum
transport. To be more specific, when the flow was close
to clear water flow, it was in a state of turbulence, and as
the concentration of the PSA solution increased, a
transition may have occurred from turbulent flow to
laminar flow. The Reynolds number, which is an
indicator of the type of flow field, cannot be calculated
easily because in the case of a non-Newtonian fluid,
kinematic viscosity is not a property but a state variable
dependent on the shear rate.
4 plotted on semi-log paper. The broken line in the figure
is the maximum drag reduction curve pro-posed by Virk
(1971). In Cases P-a1, P-b1 and P-b2, in which flow is not
laminar, approximation can be made according to the
logarithmic law in the region at a height of z + > 30 . In
Case P-b3, in which the flow became laminar, the
apparent Karman constant decreased, and as Virk's
maximum drag reduction curve became closer and the
concentration of the PSA solution continued to increase,
the apparent Karman constant showed a tendency to
increase. In the case of clear water flow, the velocity of
laminar flow is distributed within the range of z + < 30 ,
which corresponds to the viscous sublayer and the buffer
layer. The distribution of laminar flow velocity can be
determined theoretically and can be calculated by using
the Bingham model as
[7]
where, U is the main flow velocity; Up, flow velocity in
the plug layer; hs = H hp, thickness of the shear layer;
H, water depth; and hp, thickness of the plug layer. If the
power-law model is used, the flow velocity distribution
can be calculated as
[8]
where, Umax is the maximum main flow velocity; and n,
a viscosity parameter of the power-law model. Figure 21
U/Umax

4.4 Turbulent characteristics and Reynolds stress

Figures 17 and 18 show the vertical distributions of

streamwise turbulence intensity urms and vertical
turbulence intensity w rms. Figure 19 shows the vertical
distribution of the Reynolds stress. Overall, turbulence
intensity and the Reynolds stress tend to de-crease as the
concentration of the PSA solution in-creases. In Case P-b3 Figure 20. Logarithmic distribution of main flow velocity
to Case P-b6, in which the vertical distribution of main
flow velocity differed considerably from that of clear 1.0
water flow, changes in the vertical direction are small
both in turbulence intensity and the Reynolds stress, and
0.8 Experiments Plug
the Reynolds stress is close to zero. This indicates that
Power-law model
although the flow field influences and is influenced by Bingham model
kine-matic viscosity and kinematic eddy viscosity, vis- 0.6
z/H

cous stress becomes the dominant resistance comp-nent if

the kinematic viscosity at the bottom is greater than that 0.4
of clear water flow by a factor of 10 or more so that the
flow field becomes laminar. This is consistent with the 0.2
results related to resistance properties.
0.0
4.5 Laminar flow and turbulent flow velocity 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2
distribution U/
u/UUmax
max

Figure 20 shows the vertical component of main flow Figure 21. Vertical distribution of main flow velocity
velocity under the experiment conditions shown in Table (laminar flow)

7
shows the measured main flow velocities in Case P-b6
and the calculated values obtained from Eq. [7] and Eq.
[8]. As shown, the calculated values obtained from the
power-law model show good agreement with the
measured values. The degree of agreement of the
calculated values obtained from the Bingham model,
however, is lower, and the measured values do not
indicate the existence of the plug layer inferred from the
Bingham model.
Newtonian fluid properties, but details of such influence
are to be addressed in a separate study.
REFERENCES
Ashida, Yamano K., and Kanda M. (1985). Study on
Hyperconcentrated-flow(1). Annuals of Disaster
Prevention Inst.,Kyoto University.,No.28,B-2,367-377.(in
Japanese).

5. CONCLUSIONS
The primary conclusions from the study are:
(1) Non-Newtonian fluid properties of hyper-
concentrated sediment-laden flow can be expressed with
the power-law model and its parameters have been
expressed as a function of the volumetric concentration of
sediment.
(2) The degree of dependence of apparent viscosity
on temperature is negligibly small although shear stress
tends to increase slightly when temperature is low.
Changes in volumetric concentration of kaolin
suspension and the content of medium (d=31 m) or
smaller-grained silt greatly affects the apparent viscosity.

(3) The kinematic viscosities of kaolin suspensions having

volumetric concentrations of 6%, 7%, 8% and 10% show
non-Newtonian fluid properties similar to the kinematic
viscosities of PSA solutions having weight concentrations
of 300 mg/l, 400 mg/l, 500 mg/l and 800 mg/l,
respectively.
(4) The total resistance coefficient of the flow of a PSA
solution showed a tendency to increase sharply at weight
concentrations of 400 mg/l or more, and this tendency
held semblance to the resistance properties of hyper-
concentrated sediment-laden flows produced by use of
kaolin.
(5) The kinematic viscosity takes the minimum value near
the bottom and the maximum value near the water
surface according to the shear rate and tends to increase
in the near-bottom zone as the concentration of the PSA
solution increases.
(6) Turbulence intensity and the Reynolds stress tended
to decrease as the concentration of the PSA solution
increased. Compared with clear water flow, changes in
the vertical direction both in turbulence intensity and the
Reynolds stress in case of high concentration of PSA
solution were very small and uniform. The Reynolds
stress was close to zero, and the flow field was laminar.
(7) The calculated values obtained from the power-law
model agreed well with the measured velocities of
laminar flows. The calculated values obtained from the
Bingham model showed a lower degree of agreement
with the measured values, and the measured values did
not indicate the existence of the plug layer inferred from
the Bingham model.
(8) In Cases of low concentration of PSA solution, in
which flow is not laminar, approximation can be made
according to the logarithmic law in the region at a height
of Z+ > 30, but resistance is higher than in clear water
flow. This is thought to be due to the influence of non-
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Bradley, J. B., and McCutcheon, S.C. (1992). The effect of
high sediment concentration on transport processes
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Fu X. (2005.) Vertical Dispersion of Fine and Coarse
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Hydraulic Engineering. ASCE. 877-888.
Ohmoto T. Cui Z., and Kakihara Y. (2004). On
Rheology of Hyper-concentrated Sediment-laden
Flow. Journal of Applied Mechanics, Japan Society of
Civil Engineering, Vol.7, 979-986. (in Japanese)
Toms,B.A. (1948). Some Observations on the Flow of
Linear Polymer Solutions though Straight Tubes at
Large Reynolds Numbers, Proceeding First
International Congress On Rheology, Vol. , North
Holland Amsterdam, 134-141.
Virk,P.S. (1971). An Elastic Sublayer Model for Drag
Reduction by Dilute Polymer Solutions. Journal Fluid
Mechanics Vol.45, 417-440.

8
Wang Z.Y. (1993). A study on debris flow surges.
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Civil Engineers, New York, 1616-1621.
Xin Huang, Marcelo H., and Garcia A. (1998). Herschel-
Bulkley model for mud flow down a slope. Journal Fluid
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Reasearch, Vol.29,no.4, 457-474.
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