Evaluatingcomputationalmodelsofbraidedrivers.docVIP

Evaluating computational models of braided rivers (final submission version, Aug 2003) Andrea B. Doeschl1,*, Peter E. Ashmore2 and Matt Davison1 1Department of Applied Mathematics The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada N6A-5B7 2Department of Geography The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada N6A-5C2 *contact author – current address: School of GeoSciences The King’s Buildings, University of Edinburgh Edinburgh, UK, EH9 3JG (andrea.doeschl@ed.ac.uk) Phone: +44 – 0131 – 535 4110 Abstract In recent years various computational models of braided rivers have been proposed. These range from detailed computational fluid dynamics studies designed to predict the evolution of a particular braided river to the qualitative cellular automata-based model of Murray and Paola, designed to identify in a broad-brush way the most important conditions responsible for river braiding. Evaluating models such as Murray and Paola’s is challenging as the evaluation cannot be reduced to a direct comparison between model output and a particular natural or laboratory river, but must involve the identification of characteristic properties common to all braided rivers. The Murray-Paola model has provided a valuable service to the braided river community by stimulating research aimed at identifying such properties. Existing research suggests that the planform characteristics of the Murray-Paola model are similar to those of real braided rivers. We propose some new model evaluation techniques for additional aspects of braided river morphology and apply them to comparisons of a physical model and the Murray-Paola numerical model with a real braided river, the Sunwapta River. Our techniques show that the flume river shares the statistical characteristics of the braided river. However, even certain planform characteristics of the Murray-Paola model seem different from that of a real river. The topographic characteristics of the Murray-Paola river are com