Meander Migration: Some Experimental Results

River channels naturally migrate through meanders. This migration can cause major damage to bridge structures. For geotechnical engineers, hydraulic engineers, and structural engineers in Departments of Transportation in the country, it becomes important to evaluate the potential future movement of such meanders. This paper describes some very large scale laboratory experiments simulating meander migration in sand and associated results. To our knowledge these are the largest such experiments in the world. The data indicates that the meander actually widens the river on both sides but more so on the outside bank than the inside bank. Rates of meander migration are presented and compared with existing knowledge.