• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to after header navigation
  • Skip to site footer
ERDCWERX Logo

ERDC Innovation

  • About
  • Featured ERDC Technologies
  • License with ERDC
  • ERDC Inventors
  • Industry Impact
  • Contact
  • Construction
  • Electronics & Sensors
  • Environment & Energy
  • Materials
  • Protective Structures & Systems
Home » Technologies » Bedload Transport Measurement Method

Bedload Transport Measurement Method


Provides real-time monitoring of bedload materials for river management


ERDC’s bedload transport measurement method provides faster and more accurate information to help keep shipping lanes open

Bedload (sand and other sediment in flowing water) is an important natural resource that, without careful management, can cause costly delays in commercial navigation and potential damage to infrastructure. Consequently, periodic removal of sediment through dredging is often necessary to prevent channel closures. Dredged bedload is frequently repurposed in construction and beach renourishment.

Until now, the process of measuring bedload levels in a river has been problematic. Traditional physical samplers—which can be intrusive and damaging to a river’s ecosystem—require substantial time to deliver readings and do not sufficiently account for spatial and temporal variability. In contrast, ERDC’s innovative bedload transport measurement method relies on bathymetric data to accurately measure moving sediment in real-time while simultaneously capturing flow-rate. As a result, an accurate bedload rating curve (useful in both forecasting and hindcasting) is quickly developed for a given location. ERDC’s method offers an invaluable resource for the increasingly varied needs of public and private river management sectors.

Benefits:

  • Fast: Real-time bathymetric data analysis enables a quicker method of measuring bedload flow rates
  • Accurate: Provides more precise transport rate of bedload using quantitative data
  • Reliable: Eliminates technical problems associated with physical samplers
  • Environmentally friendly: Less intrusive and potentially damaging than samplers
  • Low-cost: Quantitative management tool can prevent costly navigation delays

Applications:

  • River/waterway management (e.g., sand mining)
  • NOAA (e.g., Office of Coast Survey, hydrography)
  • Unmanned systems (e.g., unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs))
  • Oil & Gas (e.g., offshore surveys)
  • Ports (e.g., marinas, harbors)
  • Hydrology
  • Shipping (e.g., navigation, locks, dams)
  • Wildlife ecology
This novel method uses bathymetric data to generate real-time measurements of moving bedload

Patents

  • US11067475B2

Resources

  • ERDC article
  • Technical report
  • Meet the inventors  

Technology Category

Environment & Energy

Tags

Bathymetry, Bedload, Dredging, Erosion, Hydrology, River management, Sediment, Waterway

Affiliated Lab

Coastal and Hydraulics Lab

Contact us about this technology

  • Hidden

Quick Links

  • About Us
  • License with ERDC
  • Industry Impact
  • Contact Us

Contact Details

ERDCWERX
1622 Washington Street
Vicksburg, MS 39180

Connect

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
SUBSCRIBE

Copyright © 2023 · ERDC Innovation