TOWARDS A BETTER DEFINITION OF THE THREE TYPES OF SEDIMENT TRANSPORT

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Abstract
It is common to separate the sediment transport of rivers into bed load, wash load and suspended load. The problem is that there are no unique criteria for distinguishing between the three types of loads. Using the concept of coherent structures for turbulent flow, it is shown here that only the shear events (burst phenomena) are able to transport the larger grain sizezs of the sediment. Together with Shen's distinction between material found on the bed and fractions not found on the bed, one obtains a consistent set of criteria for defining the three types of loads.