Suspended sediment measurement in the laboratory under flows using acoustic backscatter technique

The feasibility of measuring concentration distribution in low-density turbidity current with acoustic Doppler velocimeter was studied. Acoustic backscatter analyses were used for estimating sediment concentration in turbidity currents. It is concluded that acoustic backscatter techniques are potentially power tolls for measurements the structure of suspended sediment concentration profile. From this approach, concentration measurements can be reasonably represented by similarity profile. Based on this technique, accurate concentration estimation close to bed is possible where obtaining reliable concentration data with sampling techniques is difficult. Results show a power relation is good estimating for concentration distribution in this region where no reliable expressions have been proposed.