Flow resistance of gravel bed channels

Existing resistance formulas produce a wide range of friction-factor estimates for gravel bed streams. The purpose of this paper is to develop a reliable resistance formula in terms of the Darcy-Weisbach friction factor f. Published data were screened and used to establish the formula. The existing formulas have considered that f is a function of relative roughness D84/R only, where R is the hydraulic radius and D84 is the particle size referred to the intermediate diameter that equals or exceeds that of 84 percent of bed sediments. In this paper, f is considered as a function of Froude number in addition to the relative roughness. f for D84/R>1 displays a different trend than that for D84/R<1 perhaps due to the invalid assumption of a logarithmic velocity distribution for D84/R>1. An f formula for D84/R<1 has been established.