Modeling Channel Morphologic Change in the West Jordan River, Utah

Many existing river morphological models are limited by their inability to account for erodible banks. In this study, the sediment continuity equation was solved to determine the rate of bed degradation and aggradation. The rate of bank erosion was calculated by determining bed degradation, lateral erosion, and bank failure. To be applicable to the West Jordan River, two layers in the bank surface were considered herein. This bank erosion mode distinguishes itself from other models by relating bank erosion rate with not only flow but also sediment transport near the bank. Additionally, bank height, slope, vegetation, and thickness of each layer in the bank surface were considered. For the purpose of long-term simulation, decoupling technique is used among the flow, sediment transport, and bank erosion models. Furthermore, a new technique of computational mesh adjustment was also put forward. The developed model was then applied to simulate the processes of meandering migration in the study reach from 1981 to 1992. The reasonable agreements between simulated results and the available observations indicate the capability of this model in simulating channel morphologic change in the West Jordan River, Utah.