Cellular Confinement Systems to Prevent Resuspension in Sediment Basins
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 144, Issue 5
Abstract
Sediment basins provide quiescent conditions that enable settling of fine particles present in runoff, mitigating environmental effects created by excessive sediment discharges. Yet, settled particles are susceptible to undesired resuspension if, during dewatering of the basin, new flows are admitted that increase velocities, shear forces, and turbulence near the basin bottom. This study presents results from an investigation of the benefits of confinement cells as a lining strategy for the bottom of sediment basins. Characteristics of effluents in an experimental apparatus representing the bottom of sediment basins were studied for varying geometries of confinement cells and flow conditions. A significant decrease in effluent turbidity was reported with the use of cellular confinement cells, with smaller cell widths as a key parameter to reduce outflow turbidity. Computational fluid dynamics modeling was used to determine which geometries were more likely to succeed in decreasing turbulence and shear within confinement cells. A nondimensional resuspension parameter was proposed to correlated cell geometry and intracell flow velocity for the tested sediment.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge funding from the Auburn University Highway Research Center. The authors also thank the valuable support by Dr. Stephanie Shepherd from the Geosciences Laboratory at Auburn University, who provided the means to perform the PSD analysis. Finally, the authors would like to acknowledge the support from the Alabama Supercomputer Authority for the resources to perform CFD simulations.
References
Arulanandan, K., Loganathan, P., and Krone, R. B. (1975). “Pore and eroding fluid influences on surface erosion of soil.” J. Geotech. Eng., 101(1), 51–66.
Bentzen, T. R., Larsen, T., and Rasmussen, M. R. (2009). “Predictions of resuspension of highway detention pond deposits in interrain event periods due to wind-induced currents and waves.” J. Environ. Eng., 1286–1293.
Booth, J. G., Miller, R. L., McKee, B. A., and Leathers, R. A. (2000). “Wind-induced bottom sediment resuspension in a microtidal coastal environment.” Cont. Shelf Res., 20(7), 785–806.
Caltrans. (2006). “Cellular confinement system research.”, California Dept. of Transportation, Sacramento, CA.
Cundall, P. A., and Strack, O. D. (1979). “A discrete numerical model for granular assemblies.” Geotechnique, 29(1), 47–65.
Fan, C., Field, R., and Lai, F. (2003). “Sewer-sediment control: Overview of an environmental protection agency wet-weather flow research program.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 253–259.
Fernández, X. R., and Nirschl, H. (2013). “Simulation of particles and sediment behaviour in centrifugal field by coupling CFD and DEM.” Chem. Eng. Sci., 94, 7–19.
Festa, J. F., and Hansen, D. V. (1976). “A two-dimensional numerical model of estuarine circulation: The effects of altering depth and river discharge.” Estuarine Coastal Mar. Sci., 4(3), 309–323.
Festa, J. F., and Hansen, D. V. (1978). “Turbidity maxima in partially mixed estuaries: A two-dimensional numerical model.” Estuarine Coastal Mar. Sci., 7(4), 347–359.
He, C., and Marsalek, J. (2014). “Enhancing sedimentation and trapping sediment with a bottom grid structure.” J. Environ. Eng., 21–29.
He, C., Post, Y., Rochfort, Q., and Marsalek, J. (2014). “Field study of an innovative sediment capture device: Bottom grid structure.” Water Air Soil Pollut., 225(6), 1976.
Hirt, C. W., and Nichols, B. D. (1981). “Volume of fluid (VOF) method for the dynamics of free boundaries.” J. Comput. Phys., 39(1), 201–225.
Holland, A. F. (2004). “Linkages between tidal creek ecosystems and the landscape and demographic attributes of their watersheds.” J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol., 298(2), 151–178.
Hunt, C., and Grow, J. (2001). “Impacts of sedimentation to a stream by a non-compliant construction site.” Bridging the Gap: Meeting the World’s Water and Environmental Resources Challenges, ASCE, Reston, VA, 1–10.
Kamber Engineering. (1990). “Sediment and erosion control inventory of current practices.”, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.
King, J. K., and Blanton, J. O. (2011). “Model for predicting effects of land-use changes on the canal-mediated discharge of total suspended solids into tidal creeks and estuaries.” J. Environ. Eng., 920–927.
Krone, R. B. (1979). “Sedimentation in San Francisco Bay system.” San Francisco Bay: The urbanized estuary, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco.
Mehta, A. J., et al. (1989). “Cohesive sediment transport. II: Application.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 1094–1112.
Menter, F. R. (1993). “Zonal two equation k-w turbulence models for aerodynamic flows.” Proc., 23rd Fluid Dynamics, Plasmadynamics, and Lasers Conf., American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA.
OpenFOAM [Computer software]. OpenFOAM Foundation, London.
Parker, L. (2014). “Erosion and sediment controls.” Shale Energy Engineering Conf., ASCE, Reston, VA, 337–346.
Rohrer, C., Roesner, L., and Bledsoe, B. (2004). “The effect of stormwater controls on sediment transport in urban streams.” Critical Transitions in Water and Environmental Resources Management, World Water and Environmental Resources Congress, ASCE, Reston, VA, 1–13.
Rusche, H. (2002). “Computational fluid dynamics of dispersed two-phase flows at high phase fractions.” Ph.D. dissertation, Imperial College of London, London.
Soil Science Division Staff. (2017). “Soil survey manual.” USDA handbook 18, C. Ditzler, K. Scheffe, and H. C. Monger, eds., Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.
Weller, H. G., Tabor, G., Jasak, H., and Fureby, C. (1998). “A tensorial approach to computational continuum mechanics using object-oriented techniques.” Comput. Phy., 12(6), 620–631.
Wu, W., Rodi, W., and Wenka, T. (2000). “3D numerical modeling of flow and sediment transport in open channels.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 4–15.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 144 • Issue 5 • May 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 24, 2017
Accepted: Oct 24, 2017
Published online: Feb 20, 2018
Published in print: May 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Jul 20, 2018
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.