Proceedings of the 2024 6th International Conference on Hydraulic, Civil and Construction Engineering (HCCE 2024)

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Cyclic Steps in the Loess Plateau: Geometry and Physics

Authors
Zeng Xin1, 2, 3, *, He Zican1, 2, Yuan Yuan1, 2, Gong Ping1, 2, Xudong Fu4
1River Research Department, Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute, Wuhan, 430010, China
2Key Laboratory of Ministry of Water Resources On River and Lake Regulation and Flood Control in the Middland Lower Reaches of Yangtze River, Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute, Wuhan, 430010, China
3Innovation Team for Flood and Drought Disaster Prevention of Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Wuhan, China
4State Key Lab of Hydroscience and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
*Corresponding author. Email: zengtsing@163.com
Corresponding Author
Zeng Xin
Available Online 13 June 2025.
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6463-726-7_8How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Cyclic steps; Geometric features; Bed erodibility; Energy dissipation; Theoretical model
Abstract

Cyclic steps form under various conditions and their geometry varies, but the physics that controls their geometry is poorly understood. This paper examines the geometry of cyclic steps in the Loess Plateau and explains the intrinsic physics that control their geometry. The data of cyclic steps in gullies from two small basins in the Loess Plateau, China, was collected and we compared this data with existing field and lab datasets. Our field data shows that step length and the ratio of step length to step height decreases with increasing mean channel slope. However, step height itself does not significantly correlate with mean channel slope. Through comparison with other datasets, we find that a less erodible bed develops a smaller ratio of step length to step height, a result confirmed by a theoretical model. We also propose that step length adjusts to dissipate energy, forming a stable system of cyclic steps.

Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 2024 6th International Conference on Hydraulic, Civil and Construction Engineering (HCCE 2024)
Series
Atlantis Highlights in Engineering
Publication Date
13 June 2025
ISBN
978-94-6463-726-7
ISSN
2589-4943
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6463-726-7_8How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Zeng Xin
AU  - He Zican
AU  - Yuan Yuan
AU  - Gong Ping
AU  - Xudong Fu
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/06/13
TI  - Cyclic Steps in the Loess Plateau: Geometry and Physics
BT  - Proceedings of the 2024 6th International Conference on Hydraulic, Civil and Construction Engineering (HCCE 2024)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 82
EP  - 90
SN  - 2589-4943
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-726-7_8
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-726-7_8
ID  - Xin2025
ER  -