The Study and Monitoring of Geomorphic Processes in Geosciences and Engineering

Dear Colleagues,

A range of geomorphic processes, such as the transport of granular material due to the action of gravity, geophysical flows, flow turbulence, interparticle collisions, thermal or pressure gradients or a combination of the above, are responsible for continuously shaping the surface of planets, such as Earth, Mars, Venus, and Titan, as well as their satellites. Specifically for the Earth’s surface, even though these key processes have been studied over many decades, our fundamental understanding of how they interact and impact the pedosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere (including the anthroposphere) is still progressing at a steady pace. Building our knowledge around the causes and dynamics of granular motion in fluvial, estuarine, coastal, and aeolian environments is one of the salient challenges in hydrological and Earth surface sciences, as well as engineering. At the same time, rapid advancements in our capacity to model these processes, both numerically (with faster and more efficient algorithms and more complex computational fluid dynamics codes, ranging from DNS to LES and RANS and their variations, including DEM–CFD), as well as physically at the lab or the field, with developments in instrumentation and monitoring equipment (spanning the fields of acoustic, particle tracking and laser velocimetry, as well as advanced, low-cost microsensors), offer an appreciation of these processes at unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution and scales.

The overarching goal of this Special Issue is to present and discuss the most recent advances in the sensing and (physical as well as numerical) modeling of environmental flows, across scales and environments, focusing on those capable of performing geomorphic work. This Special Issue aims to cover but is not restricted to the following themes:

• Particle to reach scale transport processes (from incipient intermittent  entrainment to continuous/high sediment transport regimes);
• Experimental and numerical modeling of geomorphic flows;
• Monitoring the impact of geomorphic flows on infrastructure;
• Particle–fluid momentum and energy exchanges;
• Stochastic approaches for the diffusion of granular material;
• Particle segregation and granular shorting processes;
• Assessing critical hydraulic infrastructure failures due to extreme hydrologic events (such as bridge pier scour and dam collapses);
• Optimizing the management of reservoir operation schemes while considering the response of fluvial systems;
• Shallow water equations for modeling hydrosediment processes.

Dr. Manousos Valyrakis
Guest Editor

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