Erosion of Cohesive Sediments: Resuspension, Bed Load, and Erosion Patterns from Field Experiments
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 5
Abstract
New field data on cohesive sediment erosion is presented and discussed, with particular focus on partitioning the total erosion into resuspension and bed load. The data were obtained using a recently developed in situ flume of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand. The erosion rate is estimated from direct measurements of bed surface elevations by acoustic sensors, whereas resuspension rate is obtained using data on sediment concentrations measured by optical backscatter sensors. The bed- load contribution to the total erosion rate is evaluated from the conservation equation for sediments. To test repeatability, the data from the in situ flume are compared with those from a previous version of the flume. The results show that comparative studies of in situ flumes and standardized deployment procedures enable direct comparison of experimental data on cohesive sediment erosion. Overall, the data show that a commonly used assumption that the erosion rate is equal to the resuspension rate is not always valid as bed load plays a significant role in cohesive sediment erosion. The data also highlight the importance of clay content and other sediment physical characteristics in the sediment mixture.
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Acknowledgments
The research was partly funded by Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (Contract No. UNSPECIFIEDC01X0307), New Zealand. B. J. F. Biggs provided support and encouragement to this study. The writers are also grateful to C. Grace and S. De Lima for helping with fieldwork and getting instruments ready for this study. The comments and suggestions from the Associate Editor and anonymous reviewers helped to improve this paper. This paper is a result of a collaborative effort of the Hydraulic Instrumentation and Experimental Hydraulics Sections of the International Association for Hydraulic Engineering and Research.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 133 • Issue 5 • May 2007
Pages: 508 - 520
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 1, 2005
Accepted: Sep 6, 2006
Published online: May 1, 2007
Published in print: May 2007
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