River scale model of a training dam using lightweight granulates

• Lightweight granulates are a good surrogate for sediment in a physical scale model.
• Limited morpodynamics found around the head of a training dam.
• Lightweight granulates overestimate sediment mobility and amplify scouring.
• Alignment of the head of the training dam with the flow avoids scouring.
• Longitudinal training dams considered promising alternative for river groynes.

Replacing existing river groynes with longitudinal training dams is considered as a promising flood mitigation measure in the main Dutch rivers, which can also serve to guarantee navigability during low flows and to create conditions favourable for ecological development. Whereas the bed response in the streamwise uniform part of a river trained by a longitudinal dam can be readily predicted, the bed response at the transition zones is unclear. In the present study, we investigate the local morphological effects resulting at the intake section of a longitudinal training dam, where the flow is distributed over the main channel and a side channel in between the dam and the river shore. A sediment recirculating model with a nearly undistorted geometry with respect to the prototype was setup. Lightweight polystyrene granulates were used as a surrogate for sediment, to properly scale the Shields parameter without compromising Froude scaling, and reach dynamical similarity. A laser scanner allowed collecting high-resolution bed elevation data. Results obtained under typical low flow and high flow conditions show a general deepening of the bed in the area adjacent to the training dam, in response to narrowing of the main channel. Scour at an upstream river groyne embedded in the model showed a scour hole which was deeper than realistic. Throughout the entire domain, bedforms developed featuring geometrical properties that reproduced the prototype conditions appropriately. Based on a comparison with characteristics from the River Waal, regarded as the prototype without a longitudinal dam, lightweight sediments were considered to be a proper choice for this study, in which bedload is the main sediment transport mode. The main conclusion regards the absence of significant morphodynamic developments at the intake section, both during the high flow experiment and during the low flow experiment, which can be attributed to the alignment of the dam with the local streamlines.