Estimating sediment transport in a braided gravel channel — The Kawerong River, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea

It is difficult to estimate sediment transport in braided rivers because of the complex hydraulics of rapidly changing multi-channel systems. This paper describes an algorithm for generating sets of braided-river hydraulic parameters for use with sediment transport equations. The algorithm uses random number-based simulation techniques and empirically determined probability distributions of individual hydraulic variables from the White River (U.S.A.) and the Kawerong River. A test of the suitability of the algorithm for the estimation of sediment transport was carried out over a period of two years using the Meyer-Peter and Muller equation on eight reaches of the Kawerong River in which sediment transport is known. The test produced a mean absolute error of 16.3% suggesting that the algorithm may have some potential in braided-river modelling.