Search results for "plot measurement"
showing 10 items of 19 documents
Flow resistance equation for rills
2017
In this paper, a new flow resistance equation for rill flow was deduced applying dimensional analysis and self‐similarity theory. At first, the incomplete self‐similarity hypothesis was used for establishing the flow velocity distribution whose integration gives the theoretical expression of the Darcy–Weisbach friction factor. Then the deduced theoretical resistance equation was tested by some measurements of flow velocity, water depth, cross section area, wetted perimeter, and bed slope carried out in 106 reaches of some rills shaped on an experimental plot. A relationship between the velocity profile, the channel slope, and the flow Froude number was also established. The analysis showed …
Dissipative analogies of step-pool features: From rills to mountain streams
2019
Abstract In this paper the dissipative similarity of step-pool units at different spatial scales ranging from rills to streams is analyzed. This investigation benefits from the latest theoretical advances in open channel flow resistance, high-resolution topography from close-range photogrammetry applied to rill erosion and the availability of published data from literature on step-pool streams. At first, the integration of a power velocity distribution allowed to obtain a theoretically-based expression of Darcy-Weisbach friction factor, in which Γ function and δ exponent of the velocity profile are included. Then this theoretically-deduced flow resistance relationship is calibrated and test…
Comparing flow resistance law for fixed and mobile bed rills
2019
Rills caused by run-off concentration on erodible hillslopes have very irregular profiles and cross-section shapes. Rill erosion directly depends on the hydraulics of flow in the rills, which may differ greatly from hydraulics of flow in larger and regular channels. In this paper, a recently theoretically deduced rill flow resistance equation, based on a power–velocity profile, was tested experimentally on plots of varying slopes (ranging from 9% to 26%) in which mobile and fixed bed rills were incised. Initially, measurements of flow velocity, water depth, cross-section area, wetted perimeter, and bed slope, carried out in 320 reaches of mobile bed rills and in 165 reaches of fixed rills, …
A modified applicative criterion of the physical model concept for evaluating plot soil erosion predictions
2015
Abstract In this paper, the physical model concept by Nearing (1998. Catena 32: 15–22) was assessed. Soil loss data collected on plots of different widths (2–8 m), lengths (11–44 m) and steepnesses (14.9–26.0%), equipped in south and central Italy, were used. Differences in width between plots of given length and steepness determined a lower data correlation and more deviation of the fitted regression line from the identity one. A coefficient of determination between measured, M , and predicted, P , soil losses of 0.77 was representative of the best-case prediction scenario, according to Nearing (1998). The relative differences, Rdiff = ( P − M ) / ( P + M ), decreased in absolute value a…
Flow resistance in mobile bed rills shaped in soils with different texture
2021
Rill erosion is considered one of the most important soil processes because of the large amount of soil loss due to the development of a rill network able to promote an efficient transport of both rill flow-detached particles and those delivered from the inter-rill areas. Rill flow experiments are useful to overcome the gap in rill hydraulics knowledge and to test the reliability of currently applied uniform open channel flow equations for mobile bed rills. In this paper the applicability of a theoretical flow resistance equation, based on a power-velocity profile, to rill channels shaped on soils having different textures was investigated. The measurements (437 runs) of water depth, cross-…
Testing slope effect on flow resistance equation for mobile bed rills
2018
In this paper, a recently theoretically deduced rill flow resistance equation, based on a power-velocity profile, is tested experimentally on plots of varying slopes in which mobile bed rills are incised. Initially, measurements of flow velocity, water depth, cross-sectional area, wetted perimeter and bed slope conducted in 106 reaches of rills incised on an experimental plot having a slope of 14% were used to calibrate the flow resistance equation. Then, the relationship between the velocity profile parameter Î, the channel slope, and the flow Froude number, which was calibrated using the 106 rill reach data, was tested using measurements carried out in plots having slopes of 22% and 9%. …
Estimating flow resistance in steep slope rills
2021
Recent research recognized that the slope of 18% can be used to distinguish between the ‘gentle slope’ case and that of ‘steep slope’ for the detected differences in hydraulic variables (flow depth, velocity, Reynolds number, Froude number) and those representatives of sediment transport (flow transport capacity, actual sediment load). In this paper, using previous measurements carried out in mobile bed rills and flume experiments characterized by steep slopes (i.e., slope greater than or equal to 18%), a theoretical rill flow resistance equation to estimate the Darcy-Weisbach friction factor is tested. The main aim is to deduce a relationship between the velocity profile parameter Γ, the c…
Comparing theoretically supported rainfall-runoff erosivity factors at the Sparacia (South Italy) experimental site
2018
Interpreting rainfall‐runoff erosivity by a process‐oriented scheme allows to conjugate the physical approach to soil loss estimate with the empirical one. Including the effect of runoff in the model permits to distinguish between detachment and transport in the soil erosion process. In this paper, at first, a general definition of the rainfall‐runoff erosivity factor REFe including the power of both event runoff coefficient QR and event rainfall erosivity index EI30 of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) is proposed. The REFe factor is applicable to all USLE‐based models (USLE, Modified USLE [USLE‐M] and Modified USLE‐M [USLE‐MM]) and it allows to distinguish between purely empirical m…
Estimating soil loss of given return period by USLE-M-type models
2020
Many field investigations have clearly shown that rare and severe events control total soil erosion occurring over a long time period with up to 92% of total soil erosion over a 7‐year period resulting from just three daily events. Therefore, soil conservation strategies should be developed taking into account large events rather than long‐term average erosion. From an engineering point of view, establishing the soil loss of a given return period is needed. This can be obtained by the frequency analysis of soil loss measurements or by suitable soil erosion models. The USLE‐M modified and USLE‐M based are two empirical Universal Soil Loss Equation‐Modified (USLE‐M) type models which were dev…
Measurement of Water Soil Erosion at Sparacia Experimental Area (Southern Italy): A Summary of More than Twenty Years of Scientific Activity
2022
The main purpose of this article is to give a general idea of the scientific activity that was carried out starting from the 2000s on the basis of the data collected in the plots installed at the Sparacia experimental station for soil erosion measurement in Sicily, South Italy. The paper includes a presentation of the experimental site, a description of the methods and procedures for measuring soil erosion processes both available in the literature and applied at the Sparacia station (sediment sampling and water level reading in the storage tanks for total erosion measurements; profilometer, and Structure from Motion technique for rill erosion measurements), and the main results obtained in…