ABSTRACT
The estimation of sand transport in large rivers is an important parcel of the total load. Moreover, because of the measurement difficulties and the traditional sampling techniques are prone to large errors the bed load is calculated as a percentage of the suspension sediment load. To compare the validation of this indirectly method, the technique of dune displacement was then used to estimate bed load, starting to monitor Guaira Braço Direito Gauge Stations, Paraná River. This procedure allowed an understanding the modifications of bed river and dune bed form. This paper presents results of a year monitoring every 30 to 45 days for years 2013/2014 and compares to random bed load measurements using the simplifying dunes tracking results and the same method computing the dune shape form. The bed load estimated computing the dune shape coefficient was 374,000 ton.year−1 and adopting a triangular shape resulted a negative deviation of 11%. Besides that, was possible to note the modification of the dunes displacement and dunes shape coefficient with discharge variations.
