Erosion pattern of artificial gravel deposits

Sediment replenishment with artificial gravel deposits is an option to compensate for sediment deficits in rivers and to improve their ecological conditions. Predicting and quantifying the erosion rate of an artificial gravel deposit is important to successfully perform river restoration projects. Laboratory experiments have been done to investigate the influence of various parameters on the erosion pattern of artificial gravel deposits. In the present paper the effects of deposit geometry, bulk density, grain size distribution, and hydraulic load on the erosion process are described. The temporal evolution of the deposit geometry and the corresponding mean erosion rates were studied. The mean erosion rate increases with deposit height, deposit width, and decreasing grain size. Furthermore, no significant impact of the bulk density was observed. Equations to predict the mean erosion rate are proposed. This investigation helps to determine the design frequency of gravel dumping and deposit volumes for restoration projects.