Impacts to Sediment Transport Modeling by Using Zeller-Fullerton Equation and Meyer-Peter-Muller Equation to Estimate Tributary Sediment Inflows for Waterman Wash, Arizona, USA

摘要

Waterman Wash is an un-gauged watercourse for sediment transport located in Arizona, USA. The Zeller-Fullerton (1983) equation is commonly used to estimate the channel bed material load for un-gauged sand and gravel channels in the arid southwest region of the United States. It is also regulated to quantitate channel sediment transport by the local government agencies. However, current sediment transport programs do not provide the Zeller-Fullerton equation for sediment transport computations. In this study, HEC-RAS v4.1 was selected to perform the sediment transport modeling for Waterman Wash. Two scenarios were executed for sediment transport analysis. The first scenario used sediment discharge rating tables that were based on the Zeller-Fullerton equation to estimate the sediment inflow of the tributaries. The other scenario used sediment discharge rating tables that were based on the Meyer-Peter-Muller (1948) equation. Both scenarios selected the Meyer-Peter-Muller equation in the study reach sediment transport simulation. Comparison between the results of these two scenarios shows a significant difference in the calculated sediment delivery. This could cause issues in channel management for the local government agencies. In order to perform consistent sediment transport modeling and to rationalize sediment transport management for alluvial channels, this study concludes a need of including the Zeller-Fullerton equation in the HEC-RAS program to properly perform sediment transport modeling for un-gauged sand and gravel channels in the arid southwest when the Zeller-Fullerton equation is used to calculate sediment inflow.