Multi-valued Nature of Carrying-Sediment Capacity

Focusing on the multi-valued nature of sediment transport capacity, the main contents of this chapter include: (1) The multi-valued nature of sediment transport capacity reflects the complicated mechanisms for carrying-sediment capacity. If an important factor is not considered, the carrying-sediment capacity is multivalued; (2) Based on the analysis of the long-term field data of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, and removing the non-equilibrium transport impact, the multi-valued nature of sediment transport capacity is demonstrated; (3) The multi-valued nature is caused by three factors: the different structure of carrying-sediment capacity (caused by the multi-valued threshold flow velocities for incipient suspension and incipient motion); the multi-valued nature of the saturation recovery coefficients, and the multi-valued nature of the size distribution for carrying-sediment capacity. The impacts of the multi-valued threshold flow velocities and of the multi-valued size distribution for sediment transport capacity are combined in a theoretical formula. As these impacts can be quantified, the multi-valued nature of sediment transport capacity that are caused by these factors can be eliminated. As a result, the sediment transport capacity can be single-valued, which will provide a new theoretical basis for the study on the sediment transport capacity.