Establish Guidance for Soils Properties-Based Prediction of Meander Migration Rate

This project summary report summarizes the research performed in Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Project 0-4378. The main channel of a river will migrate and will rework its flood plain from time to time. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has long monitored existing river paths and potential threats to highway bridges and other near-bank structures. The purpose of this five-year project was to develop a method for estimating river migration distances and forecasting the future location of rivers. The project produced a literature review, case histories, a methodology, details on large-scale flume tests, numerical simulations, a risk analysis, and a computer program to automate the prediction process. The project's methodology predicts the location of a river based on water, soil, and geometry input. The soil is characterized by an erodibility curve (determined by the erosion function apparatus [EFA]) subjected to a flow hydrograph over a given period of time. The hydrograph is typically obtained from a gaging station record-this record can be spiked (delete constrained) with a 100-year or 500-year flow if necessary. Alternatively, multiple random hydrographs can be used to obtain the risk map of the river. The program MEANDER automates the process and accompanies the project report.