Erosion Coefficients of Cohesive Sediments

Developing methods to quantify erosion dynamics of cohesive sediments is challenging due to the complexity of many physical, chemical, and biological processes involved. Even though several empirical formulas were introduced in literature to calculate the erosion rate of cohesive sediments, there are still substantial uncertainties in determining the erosion coefficients. In this study, the relationships of erosion coefficients with sediment properties have been investigated. First, the erosion coefficient in the linear erosion formula is found to be a function of the critical shear stress based on a large number of measurement data from literature. Then, an existing empirical formula is tested to predict the erodibility coefficient when the clay percentage and dry specific weight of soil are given. Finally, the critical shear stress of cohesive soils is related to the dry density and solid-void volume ratio by using measurement data.