Theses and Dissertations Collection

Monitoring channel dynamics is important for both ecological and engineering management of riverine systems because of scour and deposition of sediment. The thermal scour-deposition chain (TSDC) is a novel tool capable of simultaneously monitoring scour and deposition, stream sediment thermal regime, and pore-water velocity information. Laboratory tests show the TSDC is equally capable of measuring scour-deposition sequences and pore-water velocity using sinusoidal and non-sinusoidal temperature signals, under a range of pore-water velocities. Application in a live, dam release stream during flood condition shows excellent measurement of bed change and provides useful pore-water velocity information even under very low temperature signal amplitudes that occur in close proximity to dams. Future research should focus on improved techniques for temperature signal phase and amplitude extractions and TSDC application to monitor scour at bridge piers and abutments.