Experimental Analysis of The Characteristics of Alternate Bars in Alluvial Channels with Floodplain Vegetation

This study investigates the evolution processes of alternate bars in the channel with bank stability by vegetation by laboratory experiment. Laboratory experiments are conducted to elucidate the behavior of alternate bars by the influence of riparian vegetation on the rivers with erodible banks. To control bank stability of the channel, the actual vegetation, alfalfa, is grown by adjusting the density of alfalfa on the flood plain. As the vegetation density increases in the flood plain, the bank erosion rates and the channel widening rates decrease and the bank stability increases. The alternate bars migrate slow downstream over time. Moreover, the bars in a channel with strong banks migrate rapidly, which is related with the aspect ratio, that is, width to depth ratio. The bar wavelength decrease with vegetation density. Our laboratory experiments show that the behavior of bars differ according to bank strength.

Keywords: Vegetation, bank strength, alternate bar, bar migration speed, bar wavelength