Empirical relationships for the transport capacity of overland flow.

This paper reports the results of an experimental study on the transport capacity of overland flow. Experiments were carried out with five materials varying from slit to coarse sand, using a wide range of discharges and slopes, in a flume with a plane bed. The experiments provided the necessary data to establish highly correlated relationships between the sediment transport capacity of the flow and different hydraulic parameters, which are a necessary element of all physically-based erosion models. Some important characteristics of these relationships were identified. These include the limited range of validity of individual relationships and the apparent lack of connection between initiation of sediment motion and sediment transport. Some relationships can also be applied to rough surfaces and to surfaces with a vegetation cover. It is believed that the proposed set of empirical relationships can be of use in the study of many aspects of soil erosion and deposition. (A)