Flume experiments on wood transport in river bends

The present work presents a study of the transport of Large Wood (LW) in river bends. The presence of LW in river networks is of interest due to its influence on river processes and ecosystems. Moreover, the transport of in-channel wood may create additional hazards during floods when the LW interacts with in-channel structures such as bridges. Until today, the transport of LW in rivers has mostly been studied in laboratory experiments and numerical modelling studies, which have mainly focused on the transport of LW in straight sections. In this contribution, we present preliminary results from laboratory experiments which were designed to study the LW drifting in river bends, as this transport phenomenon is not yet well-understood. In particular, the experiments were carried out using two different curved flumes characterized by different radius of curvature. The results are used to highlight the influence of dimensionless curvature ratio on the wood trajectories.