[CCoE Notice] MS Thesis Announcement - Hamilton

[Khator, Suresh]

Hydraulics and Morphodynamics of Autogenic Cycles During Subaerial Fan Development
Paul Hamilton
Monday, November 28, 2011, 9:00 am, Civil Engineering Conference Room

Thesis Committee: Kyle Strom (chair), K.H. Wang, William Dupre

ABSTRACT
A series of laboratory subaerial fan experiments were run to better understand the complex feedbacks between hydraulic and sediment transport processes that govern topographic evolution over a variety of time scales. Experimental parameters were held constant for the duration to isolate the internal flow-sediment feedback processes while excluding allogenic forcing. Experimental results indicated that intermediate scales represent a significant source of formative fan processes via a cyclic feedback. The morphodynamic feedback cycle consists of: (1) sheet-flow and aggradation, (2) channel initiation, (3) channel narrowing and extension, (4) flow expansion and lobe deposition, and (5) flow reorganization. Hydraulic data was collected using Large Scale Particle Image Velocimetry (LSPIV) and a dye-intensity method while topographic data was collected using a terrestrial LiDAR unit. Using this data, the intermediate scale cycle was examined with a focus on the hydraulic context. Cycles exhibited a hierarchy of scales with relative independence between the spatial and temporal.

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