Experimental investigation of flow patterns in a sharp bend

River meanders are major features in rivers and investigation of their flow patterns are important part of river engineering. There are a variety of different models for identifying of flow patterns, but insight in the relevant meander processes is still incomplete and the available models to predict flow have high uncertainties. In this paper, Flow patterns and their changes across channel were investigated. The channel under experiment has curve radius of 1.7m in the centerline and 1.3m width. The experiments in this channel were undertaken with discharges of 63, 89, and 104 l/s on a developed topography. Result showed that, there is a specific interaction between the flow and the bed topography so that having a bed topography, flow patterns can be found. The bed topography leaves a strong footprint on transverse unit discharge and transverse velocity and they include a damped oscillation towards downstream, but longitudinal velocity pattern don’t follow them. Also, flow patterns are like together in these 3 discharges and it shows curve radius effects much more than other parameters on flow patterns.