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Minimization of power expenditure in a riffle‐pool alluvial channel
Author(s) -
Cherkauer Douglas S.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/wr009i006p01613
Subject(s) - riffle , flow (mathematics) , stream power , hydrology (agriculture) , channel (broadcasting) , base flow , minification , set (abstract data type) , power (physics) , mathematics , sediment , streams , statistics , environmental science , geology , mathematical optimization , computer science , geotechnical engineering , geometry , geography , geomorphology , drainage basin , computer network , physics , cartography , quantum mechanics , programming language
The hypothesis, initially proposed by Leopold and Langbein (1962), that rivers adjust their flow so as to minimize total power expenditure and to minimize the sums of the variances of power and of other dependent variables is tested with empirical data and a mathematical flow model for a short reach of the Treia River in central Italy. The minimizations are tested by mathematically generating a set of flows that could occur under existing conditions and comparing the pertinent values with those of the modeled real flow. For the limited set of conditions observed, i.e., steady base flow over a stable set of riffle‐pool bed forms with no movement of sediment, it is shown that the stream has adjusted in the postulated manner.