Author Description

These notes discuss a few topics central to an understanding of the mechanics of sediment movement. Discussion has been confined to unidirectional flows (excluding waves) of relatively small scale (excluding Coriolis effects). Some topics have been not considered, including one of the most important problems in sediment mechanics: theories for the prediction of bed-load and suspended-load discharge. It seemed more important to develop some physical insight about the elementary processes of sediment movement than to elaborate any comprehensive quantitative theories of sediment movement.