Modeling the meander morphodynamics with internal boundary conditions given by a localized variation in the flow field

Modeling of long-term evolution of meander planforms is usually applied to river reaches characterized by a uniform flow perturbed by the effects of the curvature and width distributions. However, in nature meandering rivers may be characterized by localized variations due to external conditions, e.g. changes in floodplain slope (geologic variation), confluence of a tributary into the main river (hydrologic variation), or backwater effects (hydrodynamic variation). As a consequence, the hypothesis of a sufficiently long reach having constant forcing characteristic could limit the reliability of the numerical simulations. We developed a mathematical extension of a well-known fully coupled two-dimensional morphodynamic model (i.e., the ZS model) able to manage an internally localized boundary condition which affects the characteristic of the main flow. The resulting modular model computes the flow field in the two meandering sub-reaches determined by the presence of a section entailing prescribed changes in external conditions, and simulates the long-term lateral migration above the floodplain surface due to erosion and deposition processes at the banks, and the possible occurrence of neck cutoffs. Calibration runs and simulations based on real test cases show that internal variations in the parameters controlling the flow field might strongly affect the morphodynamic behavior of the migrating planforms. Future research shall provide an extension of this approach in order to manage multiple internal boundary conditions within the investigated river reach. The aim is to relax the common hypothesis of a unique formative uniform flow, exploiting the less restrictive assumption of a sequence of uniform flows to describe the flow field that establishes in the river and controls its morphodynamic behaviour.