Investigations of continuous bed load saltating process

Particle saltating motions during bed load transport are dominated by the f orces acting upon particles and the random process of the particles impacti ng on and rebounding from the channel bed. A real-time flow visualization t echnique is developed in this study to measure particle saltating trajector ies, corresponding velocities, and impacting and rebounding angles. Based o n the experimental data, regression equations for the dimensionless saltati ng length, height, and velocity were obtained. A numerical model that is ab le to simulate the continuous saltating process of a single particle was de veloped. The model was calibrated and verified with the experimental data, and the results were satisfactory. The model was also used to generate a se ries of synthetic data. Based on these data and the flume data collected by previous investigators, a bed load equation was derived.