A STUDY ON THE EQUILIBRIUM PROFILE FOR THE LUOSHAN-HANKOU REACH IN THE MIDDLE YANGTZE RIVER

1 INTRODUCTION Large-scale flood disasters have frequently occurred in the middle Yangtze River since the 1990抯. The Jingjiang River and Dongting Lake (Fig. 1) comprise the most serious area of flood disasters. The main characteristic of recent disasters is low discharge and high water stage. Recent research has begun to pay more attention to the important role of sediment deposition (Li and Ni, 1998). Though the Yangtze River is not an overloaded river, the amount of sediment trans…

A STUDY ON THE EQUILIBRIUM PROFILE FOR THE LUOSHAN-HANKOU REACH IN THE MIDDLE YANGTZE RIVER

Based on the morphology of the Luoshan-Hankou reach in the middle Yangtze River, the one dimensional (1-D), unsteady flow and sediment transport model was applied to study the river channel equilibrium profile. Meanwhile, a simple theoretical model relating the equilibrium profile and the incoming flow and sediment from the upper reach was developed. The numerical simulation results of the 1-D model were compared with the corresponding results of the theoretical model with reasonable agreement found between the two models. Finally, the equilibrium slope variations and their effects on flood control in response to the changes in the sediment transport process because of the Three Gorges Reservoir were analyzed using the 1-D model.