Confinement width and inflow-to-sediment discharge ratio control the morphology and braiding intensity of submarine channels: insights from physical experiments and reduced-complexity models

Huang, Sam Y. J.; Lai, Steven Y. J.; Limaye, Ajay B.; Foreman, Brady Z.; Paola, Chris

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-615-2023

Articles | Volume 11, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-615-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-615-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 11, issue 4

Research article

|

19 Jul 2023

Research article |

| 19 Jul 2023

Confinement width and inflow-to-sediment discharge ratio control the morphology and braiding intensity of submarine channels: insights from physical experiments and reduced-complexity models

Sam Y. J. Huang, Steven Y. J. Lai, Ajay B. Limaye, Brady Z. Foreman, and Chris Paola

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-615-2023-supplement

Data sets

Confinement effects of experimental submarine braided channels S. Y. J. Huang, S. Y. J. Lai, A. B. Limaye, B. Z. Foreman, and C. Paola https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7601496

Short summary

We use experiments and a model to study the effects of confinement width and the inflow-to-sediment discharge ratio on the evolution of submarine braided channels. We find that confinement width controls most of the morphological changes. These trends are consistent for submarine braided channels both with and without confinement width effects and similar to fluvial braided rivers. Furthermore, we built a model that can simulate the flow bifurcation and confluence of submarine braided channels.