MODELING NONCOHESIVE SUSPENDED SEDIMENT TRANSPORT IN STREAM CHANNELS USING AN ENSEMBLE-AVERAGED CONSERVATION EQUATION

A deterministic ensemble-averaged equation for the conservation of noncohesive suspended sediment in erodible channels is developed and solved numerically. Variables in this one-dimensional equation are represented as averaged quantities, and their covariances are also important. The ensemble-averaged values of sediment load, predicted from this equation, are compared with the averaged values obtained from Monte Carlo simulations. Improvements in the model still in progress to take into account size ranges of sediment and the transport of cohesive sediments.