Proceedings of the 19th IAHR-APD Congress 2014, Hanoi, Vietnam

ISBN xxx-xxxx-xx-x

CHANGE of RIVER BED MATERIAL DUE TO FLOOD ON JULY 2009 AND LONG TERM RIVER BED VARIATION
IN SABA RIVER, Japan

KOJI ASAI (1), ATSUHIKO TAKASAKI(2) , KAZUMITSU MURAOKA(3)& HAKOBU YOROZU(2)

(1) Yamaguchi University, Ube, Japan,
kido@yamaguchi-u.ac.jp
(2) TOAConstruction co.Ltd, Fukuoka, Japan
takasaki@toa-ct.co.jp, yorozu@toa-ct.co.jp
(3) Chugoku Regional Development Bureau, Ministry of Land Infrastructure Transport and Tourism, Hiroshima, Japan
muraoka-k87km@cgr.mlit.go.jp

ABSTRACT
The Saba River passing through Hofu City, Yamaguchi Prefecture has many weirs. Recently, the planning to disuse and
integrate weirs has been discussed in order to improve the conveyance ability in Saba River. In this paper, the effect of the
removed and built weirs on the river bed elevation change in Saba River is discussed. Firstly, the effect of the flood in 2009
on the river bed materials is studied using the observation data. It is found from the observation data analysis that the
mean sediment diameters become smaller than that before the flood in 2009. Secondly, the river bed elevation change for
60 years is studied with the numerical simulations. It is found that it takes the river bed elevation at least 8 years to be
stable.

Keywords: Saba River; heavy rainfall in 209; river bed variation; weirs

1. INTRODUCTION (Yamaguchi University Investigation Team, 2009;

The Saba River runs in the central part of Yamaguchi
Prefecture, Japan. The origin of the Saba River is at Mt.
Mitsugamine in the borderline between Yamaguchi
Prefecture and Shimane Prefecture. The Saba River is
passing through mountain area, Hofu city and reaches
Suo-Nada, the Seto Inland Sea. The river is 56km long
with basin area of 460km2. This river is managed from the
river mouth to 26.2km upstream wise by Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), i.e. it is in
the direct management region. Figure 1 shows the map of
the Saba River with its river basin. In the direct
management region, the region where the river bed slope
is more than 1/1000 accounts for 83.2%. The bed slope is
more than 1/550 from Sano-yosui weir to upstream. It can
be said that this river is very steep.

There were 16 weirs in the direct management region.

Kin-nami weir (at 10.483km) and Kake weir (at 11.883 km)
were removed and Kami-migita weir (at 11.745km) was
built. At the present day, there are 15 weirs. It is one of the
uniqueness of the Saba River that there are 15 weirs in
only 26.2 km region. Recently, the planning to disuse and
integrate the fixed weirs has been discussed in order to
improve the conveyance ability in the Saba River. Two Figure 1. River basin of the Saba River
weirs, Kin-nami weir and Kake weir, were removed and
Kami-Migita weir which is a movable weir was built in
Fukuoka H. et al, 2009). Although no river dike in the Saba
2007. The sedimentation occurred around Kami-Migita
River were broken, there were overflow from the main
weir after the flood in 2009 (Yamaguchi Office of River
river to the landside at the sections of which the
and National Highway, 2010). The gate system would be
conveyance is insufficient. Fortunately, no one was killed
damaged if the sedimentation progressed.
by this flood. However, many slope failures occurred in
The heavy rain on 21st July, 2009 induced huge landslide the basin of the Saba River, and a lot of sediment intruded
disaster in Hofu City, Yamaguchi Prefecture in Japan. 13 into river.
people in Hofu City were killed by this disaster
1
 Mean bed 1/3,000 1/1,000 1/550 1/450 1/350 1/300 1/200
slope I
200 500
Yokosone Riv. Kokubo Riv. Turugi Riv. Shim izu Riv. Mitani Riv. Jy ushichitani Riv. Nam i Riv. Hinokuchi Riv. Ninomiy a Riv.
180 Fumy oji Riv. Manao Riv. Hisakane Riv. Hiwatari Riv. Shim aji Riv. 450
160 400

Width of main channel (m)

Sano weir The dem olished Kin-nami weir Manao weir Nam i weir Nakay am a weir Ochiai weir
140 350
Mean diameter (mm)

Kamishogata
Hofusogo weir Kam imigita weir Suzuy a weir Waji weir Aso weir Nishiotsu weir weir
120 300
The dem olished Kake weir Kishimi weir
Shim oshogata weir
100 250
Ozo weir
80 200
60 150
40 100
20 50
0 0
-1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
Distance (km) Tributary from right bank
wier
Center(1997,1999) Center(2009) Width of Tributary from left bank
main channel

Figure 2. Change of mean diameter before and after flood occurred in 2009

There are many sections at which the conveyance is Figure 2 shows the longitudinal change of the mean
insufficient and many fixed weirs in the present situation diameter in the center of the river. Firstly we will discuss
of the Saba River, so that the disuse and integration of the the characteristic of the river bed materials before the
weirs are effective ways to improve the conveyance. To flood in 2009. The river bed slope is 1/3000 and the width
maintain and manage the river maintenance facilities of the main channel is 300-400m from the river mouth to
1.800km point. There is no sand bar in this region. The
appropriately, it is necessary to overcome problems which
river bed slope is 1/1000 and the width of the main
are the sedimentation and scour around new weir and the
channel is 130-300m from the 1.800km point to Sano-yosui
instability of the river bed in the site where the weir is
weir located at 4.266km point. The alternate bars are
removed. formed in this region. In the downstream region such as
In this study, firstly we tried to analyze the influence of these regions, the bed slope is mild and the width of the
floods on the river bed materials with the exiting data main channel is wide. The mean diameters of the bed
investigated by MLIT before and after the flood occurred materials are relatively small. Around Sano-yosui weir is
on July, 2009. Next, we conducted the quasi two- the turning point of the bed slope. The bed slope in the
dimensional river bed variation simulation to investigate upstream region from this point is 1/550-1/350, and the
the long term process of change of the river bed variation. width of the main channel is 100m. The fixed alternate
Especially we tried to investigate how long it takes for the bars can be seen in this region. In addition, there are many
river bed instability due to the disuse and integration of fixed weirs in the upstream region from Sano-yosui weir,
the wires to be stable. This paper will describe the results and pools due to the fixed weir and rapid exist
of the investigations mentioned above. continuously. The mean diameter of the bed materials is
ranging from 1cm order to 10cm order. In this region the
2. COMPARIOSN OF RIVER BED MATERIALS river width becomes wider or narrower with the
CHANGE BEFORE AND AFTER FLOOD IN morphology due to the fixed alternate bars, and therefore
2009 the tractive force also becomes weak or is enhanced. This
2.1 Summary of river bed materials investigation would be reason why the range of the mean diameter is
wide.
There are two investigation data of the river bed materials
before the flood July 2009. One was investigated in 1997 After the flood in 2009, the mean diameter of the bed
and the other is investigated in 1999. The river bed materials became small entirely, however it can be seen
material data after the flood was investigated in August that there are some sections in which the mean diameter
2009. became large. Such sections are located around the
conjunction with the Tsurugi River at 4.000 km, around
There are three bed materials investigations before the the demolished Kin-nami weir at 11k000 and around the
investigation in 1997. These investigations were conducted conjunction with the Hinokuchi River. The slope failure
from 1967 to 1978. According to these data from 1967 to had occurred on the upstream region of the Tsurugi River,
1999 the river bed material size had become coarse and much sediment was produced. From the fact that the
(Yamaguchi Office of River and National Highway, 2010). aggradation of the river bed around this conjunction was
The floods of which the maximum discharge is over confirmed after the flood, the change of the mean
500m3/sec had occurred 7 times from 1997 to 2009 (see diameter around the conjunction with Tsurugi River was
figure 4). In this period the flood in 2009 is the biggest one. influenced by the sedimentation. On the other hand,
After here, the discussion of the change of the river bed although the conjunction with Nami River has the same
materials before and after the flood occurred in 2009 will condition as the Tsurugi River, the change of the mean
be given, however we mention that the results involves diameter was not conformed. The volume of the sediment
the influences of the flood from 1997 to 2009. or the particle size distribution are considered as the
2.2 Longitudinal change of bed materials

2
 27 the river bed variation occurs in the low water channel
and there is no deposit and erosion on the fixed weir. The
25
Movable bed region sedimentation discharge at the upstream boundary
23 condition was estimated by using the hydraulic quantity
Ground Level (T.P.m)

21 at this section (Asai et al, 2012).

19 3.2 Computational conditions

17 Observed cross section
Modeled cross section
15
-20 0 20
Figure 3. Cross section discreted with 5m interval mesh
reason, however, we are unable to discuss any more
because of the lack of the details sediment data.
In the region between the demolished Kin-nami weir and
the demolished Kake weir, the mean diameter became
small. On the contrary, the mean diameter became large in
the downstream-wise from the demolished Kin-nami weir.
It was reported that the river bed around the demolished
Kin-nami weir is in the degradation. The armoring
progressed because the fine sediments were transported
by the flood flow.
3. COMPUTATION OF LONG TERM RIVER
BED VARIATION
3.1 Computational method
The computations of the river bed variation were
conducted based on the long term flow pattern made by
the past river discharge data, and then we investigated the
long term river bed variation.
For the computation of the river bed variation, the quasi
two-dimensional non-uninform flow computation taking
the compound section channel into account was used
(Fukuoka S. et al, 1992). The hydraulic quantities were
obtained with the non-uniform computation, and then the
bed load and suspended load were evaluated with the
hydraulic quantities. The bed elevation was obtained by
solving the continuity equation of the bed sedimentation.
Ashida-Michiue formulations were used for evaluating
the bed load and suspended load.
The cross section of the river was discreted with a 5m
interval mesh as shown in figure 3. It was assumed that
5m
The computational region is from the river mouth (-
1.600km) to Urushio observation station (23.200km). The
40 60 80
Lateral Distance (m)
100 120 140
discharge observed hourly at Urushio was given at the up-
stream boundary. Figure 4 shows the maximum hourly
discharge every year observed at Urushio from January
1980 to December 2009. The mean sea level at Mitajiri-
Nakanoseki port that is the nearest to the river mouth is
given at the downstream boundary. The discharge from
the tributary was estimated with the tank model which is
serial three tanks. The tank model parameters proposed
for granite area by Ishihara and Kobatake were used
because the target river basin area was also granite area
(Ishihara and Kobatake, 1979). The 1hour rainfall data
observed at Manao station (12.700km) was used.
It was found from the some trial computations that the
river bed elevations became unstable rapidly if we
conducted the river bed variation simulation stared from
1980, because the maximum discharges exceeded
500m3/sec continuously for 3 years from 1980. Therefore
we tried to conduct the computations from 2002 to 2001,
so that the one cycle of the computation is from 2002 to
2001 as shown figure 4. The river bed variation
computations were conducted in two cycles, i.e., 60 years.
The river bed elevation survey conducted in 2008 was
used as the intimal river bed condition.
The particle size distributions of the bed load were
modeled by using the results of the bed load
investigations conducted in 1997 and 1999. The particle
size distribution may be changeable from place to place.
But we didnt have the spatially detail sediment size data.
So we assumed that the particle size distribution is
uniform in the computational domain.
According to figure 4 the mean annual maximum
discharge is 525m3/sec and the highest annual maximum
discharge is 1,347m3/sec in 2009.

Years passing
from initial year
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
(1cylce) 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

1400
1300 Annual maximum discharge(m3/s)
1200 Mean annual maximum discharge
1100 525 (m3/s)
1000
Discharge(m3/s)

900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988

1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

Year

Figure 4. Annual maximum discharge in each year (1980-2009)

3
 22
The dem olished Kake weir(11k883)
Initial river bed
21 Case1
Case2
Kam imigita weir(11k745)
20 Planning river bed

Mean river bed level (T.P.m)

19
The dem olished Kin-nami weir(10k483)

18

17 pos.3

16 pos.2

15 pos.1

14

9.80 10.20 10.60 11.00 11.40 11.80 12.20

Distance (km)

Figure 5. Region of disuse and integration weir

Figure 7. Comparison between numerical result and initial
values for mean river bed elevation
220
Widt h of river 2
200 Widt h of main channel pos.1
Initial river bed
Width of river and main channel (m)

180 1.5 Case1

The demolished Kake weir(11k883)
Case2
160 Kamimigita weir(11k745)
The dem olished
Kin-nam i weir(10k483) 1
140 River bed variation (m) pos.2
120
0.5
100
80 0
pos.1
60
pos.2 -0.5
40
pos.3
20 pos.3
-1
0
9.8 10.2 10.6 11 11.4 11.8 12.2
Distance (km) -1.5
9.80 10.20 10.60 11.00 11.40 11.80 12.20
Distance (km)
Figure 6. Width of river and main channel
Figure 8. Comparison between numerical result and initial
3.3 Computational case
values for river bed variation
To investigate the influence of the disuse of the weirs on
180
the river bed variation we considered two computational
Initial river bed
cases. Case1 is that the present situation, in which Kin- 160 Case1
Case2
nami weir and Kake weir were removed. Case 2 is that the pos.2
140
past situation, in which Kin-nami weir and Kake weir Initial mean diameter
124.042mm
exist. Figure 5 shows the disuse and integration of weirs
Mean diameter (mm)

120
region, and the width of the river and the width of the pos.1
100
main channel in the region are shown in figure 6.
80
4. NUMERICAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Initial mean diameter
60 73.928mm
4.1 Tendency of river bed variation
40
Figure 7, 8 and 9 show the numerical results of the mean
bed elevation, the bed variation and the mean diameter of 20 Initial mean diameter
pos.3
17.655mm
the bed material, respectively. For comparison, these
figures involve the initial values. The bed variation was 0
9.80 10.20 10.60 11.00 11.40 11.80 12.20
defined as the difference of the numerical elevations in Distance (km)
each end of year from the initial values.
For the Case1, the 1.5m deposition at pso.1 in which there Figure 9. Comparison between numerical result and initial
is Kami-Migita weir, the 1.0m erosion at pos.2 in which values for mean diameter of river bed material
the upstream side from the demolished Kake weir can be
seen. The bed elevation change at pos.3 is smaller For the Case 2, on the contrary, the deposition at pos.1 can
comparing at pos.1 and pos.2, but the 0.2m erosion can be be seen similarly as the Case1, but the magnitude of the
seen. deposition is 1.0m. It is 2/3 of that of the Case1. There is

4
 2 0

1.5 pos1 1000

River bed variation (m) pos1
1
Annual
0.5 pos3 maximum
discharge
pos2
0 (m3 /s)
pos3
-0.5
pos2
-1

-1.5
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
Case1
Years passing from initial year Case2

Figure 10. Time series of rived bed variation

120 0

pos2 1000
100
Mean diameter (mm)

pos3 Initial mean diameter : 73.9(mm)

pos3 pos2
80 Annual
maximum
discharge
60 (m3 /s)
pos1
40
pos1

20
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
Case1
Years passing from initial year Case2

Figure 11. Time series of mean diameter of rived bed material

0.5 0
Maximum friction velocity (m/s)

pos1 pos3 1000

0.4 pos2

Annual
0.3 maximum
discharge
0.2 (m3 /s)

pos3
0.1
pos1 pos2

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
Case1
Years passing from initial year Case2

Figure 12. Time series of annual maximum friction velocity

little change of the bed elevation at pos.2. The 0.4m
deposition at pos.3 can be seen contrary to the Case1.
The pos.1 is located just on Kami-Migita weir. At the pos.1
we can see the deposition both the Case1 and the Case2.
Kami-Migita weir which is a movable weir was built in
2007. When building Kami-Migita weir, the river bed
surface at the downstream side from this weir was
excavated and the level of the surface was 1m lower than
the planning river bed level. So there is a pool around here.
In addition, as shown in figures 5 and 6, the main channel
was rebuilt to be the flat wide channel. Therefore the
tractive force around pos.1 decreased, and then the
deposition would progress. For the Case1, moreover, to
remove Kake weir made the tractive force increase. The
sedimentation around the demolished Kake weir was
flushed downstream-wise, and then the deposition
progressed more and more.
The degradation of the river bed around the demolished
Kin-nami weir can be seen for both the Case1 and the
Case2.The degree of the degradation of the Case2 is larger
than the Case1. The volume and the particle distribution
of the sedimentation supplying from the upstream-wise
can be thought as a reason. However, we would like to
leave the detail discussion to a future task.
4.2 Tendency of mean diameter change of bed materials
The mean diameter of the bed materials at pos.1 became
small for the Case 1 and the Case2. The mean diameter of
the Case1 was coarse a little bit more than the Case2.The
fine sedimentation coming from the upstream side from

5
the pos.1 deposited around here. This would be reason
why the mean diameter became fine. For the Case 1, the
relatively coarse sedimentation at pos.2 and pos.3 was
transported to the pos.1, so that the mean diameter
became coarse comparing with the Case2.
4.3 Process of the long term change
Figure 10, 11 and 12 show the time series for 60yeasr of the
bed variation, the mean diameter of the bed material and
the maximum friction velocity, respectively.
From the figure 10, it can be seen that there are significant
responses of the river bed variations to the flood, of which
the maximum discharge is over 1000m3/sec, occurred in
1989 (18 and 48years after) and 2009 (8 and 38 years after).
For the Case1, the river bed variation and the mean
diameter of the bed materials tend to be stable after 8
years in which the first large flood occurred in the first
cycle. The response of the river bed variation to the large
floods in the second cycle is smaller than that in the first
cycle. For the Case2, the deposition rapidly progressed for
two years at pos.1, after that the deposition progressed
moderately. The river beds at pos.2 and pos.3 are stable
from the initial year. The mean diameters of the bed
materials drastically change in the end of the first year.
The annual maximum friction velocity of the Case1 is
always larger than that of the Case2. For both cases,
basically the friction velocity at pos.3 is the highest one
and that at pos.1 is the weakest one. However, when the
flood discharge is less than 300m3/sec the friction velocity
at pos. 2 is the weakest one. On the other hand, when the
flood discharge exceeds 1000m3/sec the friction velocity at
pos. 2 is the highest one. This tendency would be due to
the water surface profile according to the river discharge.
The mean diameter changes at pos.1 and pos.2 for the
Case 2 are unique even if the river discharge is relatively
low. For example, although the river discharge is less than
300m3/sec, the mean diameter at pos.1 after 25 years
drastically decreased. On the other hand, the mean
diameter at pos.1 after 25 years doesnt change after 55
years.
All the quantities we investigated here indicated the rapid
change in the first several years. One of the reasons is the
assumption that the initial particle size distribution is
uniform spatially. It is found from the computation
conducted here that the mean diameters upstream side
and downstream side of the weir are different. Form this
fact, it can be easily expected that the particle size
distributions are different between the upstream-side and
the downstream-side in the real situation. The detail
observations on the particle size distribution between the
upstream-side and the downstream-side of a weir would
be necessary in order to improve the prediction accuracy
of the river bed variation due to the disuse and integration
of the weirs.
5. CONCLUSIONS
The main results obtained in this study are summarized as
shown below.
1. Form the filed data analysis, the mean diameter after
the flood occurred in July2009 became small entirely.
However, the mean diameter around the conjunction
with Tsurugi River, around the demolished Kin-
nami weir, the region between the Nami weir and
the Aso weir became larger than before.
2. The fixed weir influences the stability of the river bed
and the mean diameter of the bed material. It is
found that it would take 8 years including the floods
for the river bed to be stable after the weirs are
removed.
3. The quantities we investigated here, such as the river
bed variation, the mean diameter of the river bed
material, changed rapidly in the early several years.
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Ishihara Y. and Kobatake S. (1979). Runoff Model for
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Univ., 29(1)-260, 27-43.
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G.(2009). Preliminary Report on landslide disaster in
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