Bulking Factor

Historically, the available and practical use of non-Newtonian modeling tools has been limited in engineering practice. The way in which hyperconcentrations have been accounted for in engineer design of for example detention basins is by increasing or bulking the flow hydrograph. The Bulking Factor (BF) is computed as

where $//<![CDATA[ \begin{array}{l}C_v\end{array} //]]>$ is the sediment concentration by volume. Therefore assuming an average volume concentration of 50% leads to a $//<![CDATA[ \begin{array}{l}BF\end{array} //]]>$ of 2. The advantage of the Bulking Factor is its simplicity. When utilizing the Bulking Factor solely for design it is also good practice to increase the friction energy loses by increasing the bottom roughness to account for additional internal friction and increasing the turbulent eddy viscosity to account for the increased horizontal transfer of momentum.