Flow structures in large-scale bank erosion zone of Lower Yangtze River

The bank erosion process in the densely populated Lower Yangtze River can pose a great threat to riparian residents and industries. It is characterized by rapid development within a few hours, a large-scale soil collapse of 106 m3, and an arc shape. During its development, flow field inside the bank erosion area continuously evolves and interacts with the bank soil. However, the mechanisms behind the bank erosion process are still unclear. Therefore, laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate flow structures and turbulences inside bank erosion areas. A pulsed particle image velocimeter was employed to obtain high-quality velocity data inside the bank erosion zone. Results show that the bank erosion zone can be divided into a backflow zone, a mixing zone, and a mainstream zone, according to variations in flow structure; in the mixing zone, water flow is highly turbulent, and the mixing width gradually increases downstream because of the shear effects between the mainstream and backflow; the backflow zone can be subdivided into a central zone and a peripheral zone, based on the pattern of velocity changes along the radial axis from the backflow center to its periphery. A formula for calculating the flow velocity within the backflow zone was proposed, and we found that the velocity gradient in the peripheral zone was approximately four times higher than that in the central zone. This indicated that shear stress exerted by the flow near the backflow boundary was significantly intensified.