Analysis And Modelling Of River Meandering

This thesis examines the morphological changes of non-tidal meandering rivers at the spatial scale of several meanders. With this purpose, a physics-based mathematical model, MIANDRAS, has been developed for the simulation of the medium-term to long-term evolution of meandering rivers. Application to several real rivers shows that MIANDRAS can properly simulate both equilibrium river bed topography and planimetric changes. Three models of different complexity can be obtained by applying different degrees of simplification to the equations. These models, along with experimental tests and field data, constitute the tools for several analyses. At conditions of initiation of meandering, it is found that river bends can migrate upstream and downstream. This depends on meander wave length and width-to-depth ratio, irrespective of whether the parameters are in the subresonant or the superresonant range.