Grain Shape Effects on Transport

Ongoing PhD Work with Taylor Perron

Predicting bedload sediment transport is central to applications ranging from hazard assessment to reconstructing ancient climates on Mars. Yet existing transport models remain imprecise. A key source of uncertainty is grain shape. I am using flume experiment data of spheres and natural gravel to investigate how grain shape affects the mechanics of individual transport. These findings will provide essential ground truth on grain-scale processes, thereby improving sediment transport predictions across Earth and planetary environments.

Video of spheres and natural grains moving in a flume, from Deal et al. 2023