Quantitative evaluation of clogging phenomena in river beds

Abstract

Clogging phenomena in rivers are of extremely complex nature, and a development of a clogging layer depends on a large variety of influences. In this paper a quantitative approach for the evaluation of a defined hydrodynamic clogging parameter is presented. This approach is based on the inverse use of type curves representing characteristics of the interaction between surface water bodies and the aquifer. The method is applied to field data of discharge measured in seepage ditches at levee protected sites. Since conventional approaches are limited to the assumption of quasi-steady-state flow, a stochastic method for the evaluation of time-variable hydrographs is also outlined.