Large-eddy simulation of suspended sediment transport in turbulent channel flow

The numerical simulation of the non-cohesive sediment transport in a turbulent channel flow with a high concentration is a challenging but practical task. A modified coherent dynamic eddy model of the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) with a pick-up function is used in the present study to simulate the sediment erosion and the deposition in a turbulent channel flow. The rough wall model is used instead of the LES with the near-wall resolution to obtain the reasonable turbulent flow characteristics while avoiding the high costs in the computation. Good results are obtained, and are used to analyze the sediment transport properties. The results show that the streamwise vortices play an important role in the riverbed erosion and the sediment pick-up, which may serve as guidelines for the sediment management and the water environment protection engineering.