TECHNICAL NOTES

Explicit Formulation of the Shields Diagram for Incipient

Motion of Sediment
Zhixian Cao1; Gareth Pender2; and Jian Meng3

Abstract: The Shields diagram remains the most widely used criterion for incipient motion of sediment. However its implicit nature
makes applications rather inconvenient. By deploying Guo’s logarithmic matching method twice, this technical note develops an explicit
formulation of the Shields diagram, enabling the critical Shields parameter to be determined directly from fluid and sediment character-
istics without resorting to any trial and error procedure or iteration. An extended application of the logarithmic matching method is
demonstrated.
DOI: 10.1061/共ASCE兲0733-9429共2006兲132:10共1097兲
CE Database subject headings: Sediment transport; Shear stress; Hydraulics; Coastal environment.

Introduction number R* ⬅ du* / v, defined using u* that is yet to be determined.

For a specific set of fluid and sediment parameters, one has to
Sediment transport is a generally important process in fluvial and resort to some sort of trial and error procedure or iterations to find
coastal environments. One of the fundamental aspects of sediment the critical bed shear stress. This makes its application in river
transport is concerned with the critical condition for incipient and coastal engineering rather inconvenient.
motion of sediment. To date there have been a large number of A closer scrutiny of the Shields diagram 共in a log–log illustra-
experimental studies on this topic, as delineated not only in tra- tion兲 shows that the critical Shields parameter ␪c follows distinct
ditional monographs and textbooks 共Graf 1971; Raudkivi 1976; distributions with the shear Reynolds number R* 共Graf 1971;
Zhang and Xie 1990; Yang 1996; Chien and Wan 1999; Yalin Raudkivi 1976; Yang 1996; Chien and Wan 1999; Yalin and da
and da Silva 2001兲, but also in current papers 共Buffington and Silva 2001兲. In particular, ␪c declines with increasing R* follow-
Montgomery 1997; Buffington 1999; Shvidchenko and Pender ing a declining straight line in the lower region as R* is smaller
2000兲. than around 2, ␪c is constant while R* is sufficiently large in the
The critical condition for incipient motion of sediment is nor- upper region 共say R* ⬎ 400, Graf 1971兲, and in the intermediate
mally measured against the critical bed shear stress ␶c. When region, the ␪c ⬃ R* curve follows a saddle shape 共Chien and Wan
nondimensionalized by fluid and sediment parameters, it is re- 1999兲. For the lower and upper regions, the determination of ␪c is
ferred to as the critical Shields parameter ␪c ⬅ ␶c / 共␳s − ␳w兲gd quite straightforward with sediment and fluid characteristics,
= u2* / sgd, where d=sediment particle diameter; g=gravitational whereas for the intermediate region, it is inconvenient. Yet for the
acceleration; s = ␳s / ␳w − 1=submerged specific weight of sedi- intermediate region, a lower and upper logarithmic asymptote of
ment; u*=bed shear velocity; and ␳w and ␳s=densities of fluid and ␪c in relation to R* can be identified, and in between there exists
sediment, respectively. Despite the legendary inconsistencies and a smooth transition. This observation reminds one of the potential
misconceptions 共Buffington 1999兲 and experimental discrepancies application of the recent logarithmic matching method of Guo
共Shvidchenko and Pender 2000兲, the Shields diagram remains the 共2002兲. This technical note first deploys this method to formulate
most widely used criterion at present. It establishes a relationship the relationship between the critical Shields parameter ␪c and the
between the critical Shields parameter and the shear Reynolds shear Reynolds number R*, and then an explicit expression be-
tween the critical Shields parameter ␪c and the particle Reynolds
number R ⬅ d冑sgd / v, which is solely determined by fluid and
1
Professor, State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and
Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan Univ., Wuhan 430072, China sediment characteristics 共here v is fluid kinematic viscosity兲. The
共corresponding author兲. E-mail: zxcao@whu.edu.cn present explicit formulation allows for expeditious applications of
2
Professor and Director of Research, School of Built Environment,
the Shields diagram in the general field of sediment transport.
Heriot-Watt Univ., Edinburgh EH14 4AS, U.K.
3
Associate Professor, College of Information Management, Wuhan
Univ., Wuhan 430072, China.
Note. Discussion open until March 1, 2007. Separate discussions must Formulation of Shields Diagram „␪c − R*…
be submitted for individual papers. To extend the closing date by one
month, a written request must be filed with the ASCE Managing Editor.
The manuscript for this technical note was submitted for review and
Guo 共2002兲 proposed the logarithmic matching method to formu-
possible publication on October 7, 2003; approved on October 1, 2006. late unified relationships for a range of problems in the broad field
This technical note is part of the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, Vol. of hydraulics including sediment transport. The Shields diagram
132, No. 10, October 1, 2006. ©ASCE, ISSN 0733-9429/2006/10-1097– considered herein shows the unique feature in the intermediate
1099/$25.00. region that makes the application of the logarithmic matching

JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING © ASCE / OCTOBER 2006 / 1097

Fig. 1. Present explicit formulation of Shields diagram 共␪c ⬃ R*兲 as Fig. 2. Critical Shields parameter as function of particle Reynolds
compared with previous relationship 共Yalin and da Silva 2001兲 number 共␪c ⬃ R兲

method feasible. In particular, a distinct lower and upper logarith- straight line with a slope of −1 for R* ⬍ ⬇ 2, as initially thought
mic asymptote can be readily found, as a smooth transition re- by Shields 共Graf 1971; Chien and Wan 1999兲.
gime in between 共Graf 1971; Yang 1996; Chien and Wan 1999;
Yalin and da Silva 2001兲. The logarithmic matching method has
been well described by Guo 共2002兲, and thus the following for- Critical Shields Parameter versus Particle Reynolds
mulations are directly provided without detailed derivations. Ac- Number „␪c È R…
cording to Guo 共2002兲, there are two possible models that are
quite close to each other. Thus only one model is chosen for the For applications, the logarithmic matching formulation Eq. 共1兲 is
following analysis, which read not yet “well shaped” as the shear Reynolds number R* involves
the unknown bed shear velocity. Nevertheless it has been well
ln ␪c = − ln R* + 0.5003 ln关1 + 共0.1359R*兲2.5795兴 − 1.7148 共1兲
known for long that R* can be represented using the critical
where the shear Reynolds number R* 苸 共2 , 60兲. Shields parameter ␪c and a nondimensional parameter defined
For the lower region 共R* ⬍ ⬇ 2兲, the critical Shields parameter purely with particle and fluid characteristics 共e.g., Yalin 1977;
␪c was deemed to decline with increasing shear Reynolds number Yalin and da Silva 2001兲. When the particle Reynolds number R
R* following a straight line with a slope of −1 共Graf 1971兲. How- is used, one has
ever, a number of later studies suggest that the slope of the de-
clining straight line should be −0.3 共e.g., Chien and Wan 1999; R* = R冑␪c 共4兲
Yalin and da Silva 2001兲. In this respect, the explicit formulations While it seems not straightforward to analytically eliminate the
of Brownlie 共1981兲 and Vajda 共1991兲 need to be revised because bed shear velocity from the right-hand side of Eq. 共1兲, it is quite
both fit the declining straight line of slope −1. Further, collections easy to acquire a discrete relationship between ␪c and R using Eq.
of experimental data shown by Yalin and da Silva 共2001, Fig. 1.6, 共1兲. This discrete ␪c ⬃ R relationship is not yet convenient for
p. 8兲 and also Yang 共1996, Fig. 2.3, p. 24兲 apparently support an applications. However it can be readily inferred from Eq. 共4兲 that
even smaller slope 共⬍0.3兲 of the declining straight line, otherwise the ␪c ⬃ R relationship should follow a similar “shape” to the
the critical Shields parameter could be underestimated compared Shields diagram 共Fig. 1兲 except that it is “stretched” in R, com-
to the experimental data around R* 苸 共0.1, 2兲. This observation pared to R* 共note that ␪c ⬍ 1兲. Alternatively, a lower and upper
makes a modification desirable over the explicit relationship of logarithmic asymptote can be expected as a transition in between.
Yalin and da Silva 共2001兲. As such, the following expression for This once again motivates one to deploy Guo’s 共2002兲 logarith-
the lower region is suggested
␪c = 0.1096R−0.2607
* , R* ⬍ ⬇ 2 共2兲
It is appreciated that the critical Shields parameter approaches a
constant when the shear Reynolds number is sufficiently large
共say R* ⬎ 400, Graf 1971兲, and the constant would be 0.045,
rather than 0.06 共Chien and Wan 1999; Yalin and da Silva 2001兲.
Numerically, a value of approximately 60 for R* appears to suf-
fice for defining the upper region 共i.e., R* ⬎ ⬇ 60兲. Thus one has
␪c = 0.045 R* ⬎ ⬇ 60 共3兲
A comparison between Eq. 共1兲, along with Eqs. 共2兲 and 共3兲, and
that of Yalin and da Silva 共2001兲 is shown in Fig. 1. Fairly good
agreement is obtained, apart from the appreciable discrepancy due
to the present modified fit to the lower region by a declining
straight line of a reduced slope, as stated above. Also shown in
Fig. 1 are the lower and upper asymptotes for the logarithmic Fig. 3. Critical Shields parameter as function of particle material
matching. The lower asymptote essentially represents a declining number 共␪c ⬃ M兲

1098 / JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING © ASCE / OCTOBER 2006

 共1兲–共3兲. Following this, explicit formulations are provided 关Eqs.
共6兲–共8兲兴, which allow for the determination of the critical Shields
parameter using particle Reynolds number or material number
that is solely determined by fluid and sediment characteristics.
The explicit formulations should find applications in the general
area of sediment transport, which are rendered possible by the
log-matching method of Guo 共2002兲.

Notation

The following symbols are used in this technical note:

d ⫽ sediment particle diameter;
g ⫽ gravitational acceleration;
M ⫽ particle material number;
Fig. 4. Critical Shields parameter as function of particle diameter R ⫽ particle Reynolds number;
共␪c ⬃ d兲 R* ⫽ shear Reynolds number;
s ⫽ submerged specific gravity of sediment;
u* ⫽ bed shear velocity;
mic matching method to formulate an analytical relationship be- v ⫽ kinematic viscosity of fluid;
tween ␪c and R. In line with Eq. 共1兲, the following explicit ␪c ⫽ critical Shields parameter for incipient motion of
formulation is derived: sediment; and
ln ␪c = − 0.6769 ln R + 0.3542 ln关1 + 共0.0223R兲2.8358兴 − 1.1296, ␳w , ␳s ⫽ densities of fluid and sediment, respectively.

R 苸 共6.61,282.84兲 共5兲 References

Eq. 共5兲 can be rewritten in the power form as
Brownlie, W. R. 共1981兲. “Prediction of flow depth and sediment
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tions Eqs. 共6兲–共8兲 and the relationship of Yalin and da Silva tional hydraulics and sediment transport.” J. Hydraul. Res., 40共5兲,
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JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING © ASCE / OCTOBER 2006 / 1099