Effect of the Three Gorges Reservoir on vertical distribution of suspended sediment concentration and estimation accuracy of depth-average concentration in downstream reaches

The sediment regime in the middle Yangtze River has been significantly changed from quasi-equilibrium to nonequilibrium since the impoundment of the Three Georges Reservoir (TGR). To understand the effects of the TGR on vertical distribution of suspended sediment concentration (SSC) and estimation accuracy of mean concentration, vertical sediment concentration and flow velocity data at the Shashi and Jianli hydrological stations in the reach before and after the impoundment were collected. Comparisons and analysis of vertical profiles of SSC before and after the TGR impoundment show that after the impoundment of the TGR, due to the coarsening of sediment particle size, the reduction in sediment load, and the significant decrease in sediment saturation, the vertical distribution of SSC in the downstream reaches became more uneven under medium and low water flows, which was reflected in the vertical gradient and the fluctuation degree of SSC significantly increased. In addition, the depth-average sediment concentrations were calculated by the selected-point method and the mean values calculated by the “multi-point method” were regarded as the “true mean” to evaluate the accuracy of the mean value calculated by the “few-point method.” It was found that the relative errors for the selected-point method were mainly positive before impoundment but mainly negative after impoundment. Additionally, the correction factors of one-point, two-point, and three-point methods and the position of the near-bed substituted point for the five-point method were given to reduce the error when the point measurements were used to calculate the depth-average sediment concentration in the downstream reaches.