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.
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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.
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©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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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
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