Abstract
One of the physically least understood characteristics of geophysical transport of sediments along sediment surfaces is the well-known experimental observation that the sediment transport rate is linearly dependent on the fluid shear stress applied onto the surface in air, but is nonlinearly dependent on in water. Using transport simulations for a wide range of driving conditions, we show that the scaling depends on the manner in which the kinetic fluctuation energy of transported particles is dissipated: via predominantly fluid drag and quasistatic contacts (linear) versus fluid drag and quasistatic and collisional contacts (nonlinear). We use this finding to derive a scaling law (asymptotically ) in simultaneous agreement with measurements in water and air streams.
- Received 25 November 2019
- Revised 29 January 2020
- Accepted 25 February 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.168001
© 2020 American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
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