Angel Monsalve Sepúlveda, Ph.D.

Angel Monsalve joined the Center of Ecohydraulics Research and the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering in the Fall of 2011 as a Graduate Student pursuing his Doctoral Degree and in 2020 as a PostDoctoral fellow in Elowyn’s Yager Geomorphology Group. His research interests focus on combining different techniques such as Field and Laboratory measurements with Computational Fluid Dynamics to gain a more fundamental understanding of the continuous feedback between the flow and river morphology. His main fields of expertise are sediment transport, river hydraulics, and open channel flow simulations based on turbulence modeling.

My scientific field is fluvial geomorphology, in particular the evolution of landscapes, sediment dynamics, and hydraulic processes. My interests in general are in the interaction water – sediment and flow dynamic, especially their mathematical modelling. My research centers on furthering the understanding of the physical processes that control sediment transport and flow field at the local and reach scales using advanced numerical modelling techniques (3D CFD flow models, Large eddy simulations, RANS) and theoretical work.

My research is focused on fluvial geomorphology of mountain streams, with a particular focus on step-pool systems and the effect of the spatial distribution of flow and sediment grain sizes. Also I’m very interested in stream temperature and water quality modelling.

Some of my current research themes are listed below.

• Step-pool channel morphology and dynamics
• Formation and development of sediment patches
• Effect of sediment patches in sediment transport
• The role woody debris in river bed surface texture
• Channel roughness and flow velocity
• The mechanics of bedload transport
• Initiation of bedload motion
• Bedload transport as a stochastic process
• Monitoring bedload transport in natural streams
• Stream temperature modelling

Refereed Journals

• Dudunake, T., Tonina, D., Reeder, W. J., & Monsalve, A. (2020). Local and reach‐scale hyporheic flow response from boulder‐induced geomorphic changes. Water Resources Research, 56, e2020WR027719. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR027719
• Monsalve, A., Segura, C., Hucke, N., and Katz, S.: A bed load transport equation based on the spatial distribution of shear stress – Oak Creek revisited, Earth Surf. Dynam., 8, 825–839, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-825-2020, 2020.
• Monsalve, A., E.M. Yager (2017) Bed surface adjustments to spatially variable flow in low relative submergence regimes. Water Resources Research, 53, 9350–9367. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017WR020845.
• Monsalve, A., E.M. Yager, and M. Schmeeckle (2017) Effects of bed forms and large protruding grains on near-bed flow hydraulics in low relative submergence conditions. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 122, 1845–1866. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JF004152.
• Monsalve, E.M. Yager, J. Turowski, and D. Rickenmann (2016) A probabilistic formulation of bed load transport to include spatial variability of flow and surface grain size distributions, Water Resour. Res., 52, 3579–3598, doi:10.1002/2015WR017694.
• Yager, E.M., M. Kenworthy, and A. Monsalve (2015), Taking the river inside: Fundamental advances from laboratory experiments in measuring and understanding bedload transport processes, Geomorphology. 244. 21-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.04.002
• Link, O., A. Huerta, A. Stehr, A. Monsalve, C. Meier, M. Aguayo (2012), The solar-to-stream power ratio: A dimensionless number explaining diel fluctuations of temperature in mesoscale rivers. River Research and Applications. DOI: 10.1002/rra.2579.
• Monsalve, A., Link, O. & Stehr, A. (2012), “The thermal regime of rivers: development, verification and application of a numerical model”. Water Technology and Sciences (in Spanish). 3(4):41-56

Books and book chapter published

• Link, O. y Monsalve, A. (2010) “Métodos y modelación numérica en hidráulica de cauce abierto” Concepción, Editorial Universidad de Concepción. 117 p. ISBN 978-956-8029-89-0 (Numerical methods and modeling in open channels hydraulics)
• Link, O., Monsalve, A., Stehr, A., García, A. y Urrutia, R. (2009) Thermal regime of the Itata River, Chapter 3, pp. 44-57 (In: Parra, Castilla, Romero, Quiñones y Camaño Eds. La Cuenca Hidrográfica del Río Itata, Aportes Científicos Para Su Gestión Sustentable. Concepción (The Itata River watershed, scientific contributions for a sustainable management), Editorial Universidad de Concepción, 389 pp). ISBN: 978-956-227-326-8

• Fondecyt Iniciación en Investigación, Project # 11200949, Including the spatial variability of boundary shear stress and grain size distribution in sediment transport predictions - applications to mountain streams – 2020 to 2023.
• Conicyt Scholarship (Becas Chile – Chile Scholarship) – For PhD Studies at the University Of Idaho, 2010
• University of Concepción Graduate Department Scholarship – For Master of Sciences studies at the University of Concepción, 2008