Author(s): Lu Wang; Ruihua Nie
Linked Author(s): Lu Wang
Keywords: Rapid bed degradation; Mountain rivers; Human disturbances; River infrastructure
Abstract: In the past decades, the sediment flux of many rivers around the world has decreased significantly due to human activities such as river damming, sediment bed mining and river training, leading to general bed degradation in many rivers. A series of recent river disasters show that strong human disturbances may cause serious bed degradation in a short period (termed as rapid bed degradation) in mountain rivers, significantly endangering the stability and safety of river embankments, instream or river-crossing infrastructures (e.g., sills, weirs, pipelines, culverts, bridge piers) and waterway. The present study summarizes cases of rapid bed degradation in mountain rivers based on field survey and literature, illustrating the challenges in understanding the underlying physics and countermeasures.
Year: 2023