Experimental study on river resistance change during erosion process in the braided channel

River resistance is the fundamental issue of river dynamics. The resistance change during the process of erosion adjustment relates to the sediment transport, the riverbed evolution, the flood control, the navigation condition and so on. The bed configuration, turbulence intensity, resistance change and their relationship is studied by means of flume experiment. It is found that under the condition of unchanged river-type, the bed configuration and the river resistance will change with the erosion adjustment. The change of bed configuration will change the turbulence intensity. The river resistance will increase with the increase of the turbulence intensity, and vice versa. Under different conditions of discharge, the adjustment ranges and the variation degrees of the river resistance are different.