Validation of seismic bedload saltation model: From laboratory flume to field-scale experiments

Reliable bedload flux estimations are necessary for a variety of applications such as sedimentation engineering, flood risk mitigation and river restoration. Several seismic physical models with considering different bedload transport mechanisms have been proposed, which provided an opportunity to have quantitative observation in practical. However, a lack of direct measurements of bedload fluxes in field application cause a challenge for the validation of seismic models. In the practical application, the bedload impact kinematics (elasticity and velocity) and particle dynamics assumed in models are crucial for achieving high accuracy in bedload inversion. In-situ seismic parameters such as shear-wave velocity and seismic quality factor are also required to reduce the uncertainty in model prediction. Thus, this study first conducts bedload transport experiments in a flume laboratory to understand the kinematics and mechanics of particle transport by using the smart rock embedded with accelerometer and gyroscope, geophone and hydrophone. For the field-scale experiments, we further studied distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) measurement during the experiments, which can record the dynamic strain in fiber optic cable under riverbed. Both case of laboratory flume and field-scale experiments, we will evaluate the performance of the different physical models by comparing in-situ measurements of bedload mass and impact forces recorded by the smart rock. In the case of field experiment, we adopted the active and passive seismic surface wave exploration to investigate the properties of wave propagation and attenuation. The effect of the process of rolling and/or sliding particles, as opposed to saltating particles, contributing in seismic signal generation, was also explored.