Evaluation of a gravel transport sensor for bed load measurements in natural flows

A recent acoustic instrument （Gravel Transport Sensor, GTS） was tested for predicting sediment transport rate （bed load rate） in gravel bed streams. The GTS operation is based on the particle collision theory of submerged obstacles in fluids. When particles collide with the GTS cylinder their momentum is recorded in the form of ping rates. The GTS is attractive for further consideration here because of its potential to provide continuous unattended local bed load measurements, especially in areas found in streams that access may be difficult under extreme conditions. Laboratory experiments coupled with numerical simulations for the same flow conditions were performed in order to determine the conditions under which particles of different size will hit the GTS cylinder and be able to register a ping rate. The GTS was able to detect the number of particles with diameter in the range of 15.9 to 25.4 mm, with reasonable accuracy, if the applied Shields effective stress τ＊e = τ＊ - τ＊cr was in the range of 0.006 to 0.015. A drawback of the tested prototype GTS, however, was that it exerted increased resistance on the incoming particles. The added drag effects increased the overall resistance that was exerted by the flow on particles and thus increased the likelihood that particles will rest in the ambient region of the cylinder instead of hitting it. Numerical simulation of the flow around the GTS cylinder revealed that changing the prototype geometry from cylindrical to ellipsoid or rhomboid will increase the likelihood of the particles hitting the instrument under the same flow conditions failed by the original tested GTS cylinder.     

中天山北坡云与降水的气候特征

使用1980年以前中天山北坡的地面气候资料及个别水文站的气候资料，通过对这一地区特殊气候条件下的云与降水的气候特征进行分析研究，评估这一地区的人工增雨潜力和可行性?分析研究表明：地形的作用对中天山北坡的云和降水分布有重要影响，在暖季地形对降水的影响是非常突出的，而在冷季地形影响并不甚明显；暖季在山区有极丰富的地形云资源和优越的降水条件；盛夏的山区是实施人工增雨首选的季节和地带。