Estimation of Bed Shear Stresses in the Pearl River Estuary

Mean and fluctuating velocities were measured by use of a pulse coherent acoustic Doppler profiler(PC-ADP) and an acoustic Doppler velocimeter in the tidal bottom boundary layer of the Pearl River Estuary.The bed shear stresses were estimated by four different methods:log profile(LP),eddy correlation(EC),turbulent kinetic energy(TKE),and inertial dissipation(ID).The results show that(a) all four methods for estimating bed stresses have advantages and disadvantages,and they should be applied simultaneously to obtain reliable frictional velocity and to identify potential sources of errors;(b) the LP method was found to be the most suitable to estimate the bed stresses in non-stratified,quasi-steady,and homogeneous flows;and(c) in the estuary where the semi-diurnal tidal current is dominant,bed shear stresses exhibit a strong quarter-diurnal variation.