Bedforms in a turbulent stream: formation of ripples by primary linear instability and of dunes by nonlinear pattern coarsening

DOI10.1017/S0022112009993466zbMATH Open1189.76239arXiv0805.3417OpenAlexW2139556396MaRDI QIDQ3573271FDOQ3573271

Antoine Fourrière, Philippe Claudin, Bruno Andreotti

Publication date: 30 June 2010

Published in: Journal of Fluid Mechanics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: It is widely accepted that both ripples and dunes form in rivers by primary linear instability, the wavelength of the former scaling on the grain size, that of the latter being controled by the water depth. We revisit here this problem, using the computation of the turbulent flow over a wavy bottom performed in Part 1. The details of the different mechanisms controlling sediment transport are encoded into three quantities: the saturated flux, the saturation length and the threshold shear stress. Theses quantities are modelled in the case of erosion and momentum limited bed loads. This framework allows to give a clear picture of the instability in terms of dynamical mechanisms. The relation between the wavelength at which ripples form and the flux saturation length is quantitatively derived. Inverting the problem, experimental data is used to determine the saturation length as a function of grain size and shear velocity. Finally, using the systematic expansion of the flow field with respect to the corrugation amplitude, we discuss the non-linear selection of ripple aspect ratio. Investingating the effect of a free surface on the linear instability, we show that the excitation of standing waves at the surface has a stabilising effect, independently of the details of the flow and sediment transport models. Consequently, the shape of the dispersion relation is such that dunes can not result from a primary linear instability. We present the results of field experiments performed in the natural sandy Leyre river, which evidence the formation of ripples by a linear instability and the formation of dunes by a non-linear pattern coarsening limited by the free surface. We show that mega-dunes form when the sand bed presents heterogeneities such as a wide distribution of grain sizes.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/0805.3417

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Stability and instability of geophysical and astrophysical flows (76E20) Turbulent boundary layers (76F40)

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Cited In (22)

• On the scaling of the instability of a flat sediment bed with respect to ripple-like patterns
• Bedforms in a turbulent stream: ripples, chevrons and antidunes
• Incipient bedforms in a bidirectional wind regime
• Formation of sediment patterns in channel flow: minimal unstable systems and their temporal evolution
• Hydrodynamic roughness induced by a multiscale topography
• Ripple and dune formation in rivers
• About the role of the Hanratty correction in the linear response of a turbulent flow bounded by a wavy wall
• Linear and nonlinear instabilities of a granular bed: determination of the scales of ripples and dunes in rivers
• Three-dimensional sand ripples as the product of vortex instability
• A spectral approach for the stability analysis of turbulent open-channel flows over granular beds
• Open-channel flow over evolving subaqueous ripples
• Turbulence-driven secondary flows and formation of sand ridges
• Aeolian and subaqueous bedforms in shear flows
• Instability and finite-amplitude self-organization of large-scale coastline shapes
• Dissolution instability and roughening transition
• Subaqueous barchan dunes in turbulent shear flow. Part 2. Fluid flow
• Revisiting the linear theory of sand dune formation
• Formation of sand ripples under a turbulent liquid flow
• Evolution of bed forms produced by clarified turbulent flow over a non-cohesive bed
• Transport relaxation time and length scales in turbulent suspensions
• Influence of the turbulent closure for the prediction of the linear response of a flow bounded by a corrugated wall
• Multiple solutions for granular flow over a smooth two-dimensional bump

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