Estimating instantaneous concentration of suspended sediment using acoustic backscatter from an ADV

The measurement of instantaneous sediment concentration remains a challenging task. In this study, a three-step procedure is proposed to estimate instantaneous sediment concentration using acoustic backscatter from Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV). The influences of acoustic noise and particle diameter on an ADV׳s performance was first tested in the laboratory, then the three-step procedure was verified based on field measurements in the Zhongxian and Fengjie reaches in the Three Gorges Reservoir. The first step involves reconstructing the backscatter signal time series. Due to contamination from both the noise floor and spurious spikes, the denoising-despiking method was applied instead of the traditional velocity-despiking methods, and this approach performed well based on spectrum analysis. The second step involves calibrating the sediment concentration against the backscatter signal. A linear relation, whose slope and intercept were calibrated to be dependent on particle diameter, is proposed in double logarithmic coordinates. The third step involves calculating the instantaneous sediment concentration using reconstructed instantaneous backscatter based on the proposed relation. The accuracy of the proposed method was evaluated through consideration of the concentration spectrum and sediment flux, indicating that the proposed three-step procedure is effective for the measurement of instantaneous sediment concentration.