• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.1023-1035
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• 2016

Suspended sediment concentration (SSC) is a crucial riverine parameter in terms that it can be utilized for analyzing sediment transport, stability assessment of river and structure and so on. However, in case of domestic, sediment discharge data are not enough because of using conventional sediment samplers. This study aimed at developing a practical technique for estimating suspended sediment concentration in high spatial and temporal resolution by building relationship between acoustic backscatter (or SNR) from H-ADCP with actually observed data using LISST-100X. In this regard, a dedicated correction algorithm was proposed particularly for the adapted H-ADCP (SonTek SL-3000). Then, a SNR-SSC relation was built based upon a real-scale field experiment, where both H-ADCP and LISST-100X were concurrently operated to observe SNR and SSC, respectively. The coefficient of determination for the developed regression equation of SNR-SSC relation was around 0.85~0.88, thereby the relation could be evaluated to be highly correlated. The result of this study might be potentially applied for real-time and simultaneous observation of SSC when H-ADCP could be applied.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.775-786
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• 2017

Monitoring sediment flux is crucial especially for maintaining river systems to understand morphological behaviors. Recently, hydroacoustic backscatter (or SNR) as a surrogate to empirically estimate suspended sediment concentration has been increasingly highlighted for more efficient acquisition of sediment dataset, which is difficult throughout direct sediment sampling. However, relevant contemporary researches have focused on wide range solution applicable for large natural rivers where H-ADCPs with relatively low acoustic frequency have been widely utilized to seamlessly measure streamflow discharge. In this regard, this study aimed at investigating hydroacoustical characteristics based on a very recently released H-ADCP (SonTek SL-3000) with high acoustic frequency of 3 MHz in order to capitalize its capacity to be applied for suspended sediment monitoring in laboratory conditions. SL-3000 was tested in a laboratory flume to collect SNR in conjunction with LISST-100X for actual sediment concentration and particle distribution in both sand and silt sediment injection in various amount. Conventional algorithms to correct signal attenuations for water and sediment were carefully tested to validate whether they can be applied for SL-3000. As result of analyzing the SNR-SSC correlation trand, through further study in the future, it is confirmed that SSC can be observed indirectly by using the SNR.