Field measurement and modeling of near-bed sediment transport processes with fluid mud layer in Tokyo Bay

Tokyo Bay is one of the estuaries in Japan with a high population of almost 26 million people in the basin area. One of the major concerns for the environment in this water area is the decreasing ecosystem functions including the deterioration of water and sediment qualities caused by various anthropogenic activities. Since the bottom sediments around almost the entire area of the inner bay consist of fine materials with a high organic content, which cause the deterioration of water quality through processes such as hypoxia, an understanding of the fine sediment dynamics in the Bay is crucial for an environmental assessment of the water area. This paper proposes a model for the key processes of fine sediment dynamics, which reflects field data about muddy bed structures and their dynamics obtained during the monitoring campaign in 2007. One of the specific features of the sediment in the Bay at present is the persistent existence of fluid mud layers (water content over 300?%) with a thickness of around a few decimeters, which might be caused by deposition of abundant organic particles due to eutrophication. The present study shows that diffusion flux model delivers quite reliable results for estimating erosion flux from the top of fluid mud layers after calibrating the model parameter against the time series data of vertical flux measured by an acoustic Doppler velocimeter system. This study also derives analytical solutions, based on the Bingham fluid concept, of advection flux in the fluid mud layer on which external shear stress force is applied.     

Field measurement and modeling of near-bed sediment transport processes with fluid mud layer in Tokyo Bay

Tokyo Bay is one of the estuaries in Japan with a high population of almost 26 million people in the basin area. One of the major concerns for the environment in this water area is the decreasing ecosystem functions including the deterioration of water and sediment qualities caused by various anthropogenic activities. Since the bottom sediments around almost the entire area of the inner bay consist of fine materials with a high organic content, which cause the deterioration of water quality through processes such as hypoxia, an understanding of the fine sediment dynamics in the Bay is crucial for an environmental assessment of the water area. This paper proposes a model for the key processes of fine sediment dynamics, which reflects field data about muddy bed structures and their dynamics obtained during the monitoring campaign in 2007. One of the specific features of the sediment in the Bay at present is the persistent existence of fluid mud layers (water content over 300 %) with a thickness of around a few decimeters, which might be caused by deposition of abundant organic particles due to eutrophication. The present study shows that diffusion flux model delivers quite reliable results for estimating erosion flux from the top of fluid mud layers after calibrating the model parameter against the time series data of vertical flux measured by an acoustic Doppler velocimeter system. This study also derives analytical solutions, based on the Bingham fluid concept, of advection flux in the fluid mud layer on which external shear stress force is applied.

     

A numerical model for simulation of fluid mud with different rheological behaviors

In this paper, a three-dimensional isopycnal approach is presented to simulate the dynamics of fluid mud covering the formation, development, transport, and disappearance of fluid mud. The basic assumption is the assignment of the fluid’s density as the indicating parameter for the rheological behavior. Considering stable stratification, as is usually the case for fluid mud, layers of constant density discretize the vertical domain. The non-Newtonian dynamics of fluid mud is simulated by solving the Cauchy equations for general continuum dynamics. Instead of using a turbulent viscosity approach, the viscosity is allowed to vary according to the rheological behavior of mud suspensions. This apparent viscosity can be determined for different rheological formulations in dependence of the volume solid fraction and the shear rate. An existing three-dimensional isopycnal hydrodynamic model was extended for vertical mass transport processes and was applied on a schematic system with hindered settling. For including the rheological behavior of fluid mud, the Worrall–Tuliani approach was parameterized and implemented. The resulting flow behavior is shown on a model application of fluid mud layers moving down an inclined plane. With these changes, it is demonstrated that the isopycnal model is capable of simulating fluid mud dynamics.     

Mud erosion by waves: a laboratory study

The role of mud erosion under waves in governing cohesive sediment transport in estuarial and coastal waters is well known. A laboratory study was conducted in order to elucidate the mechanism by which soft muds erode under progressive waves in a flume. Two types of cohesive sediment were used, a commercial kaolinite and an estuarial mud. Beds were formed by pouring in a pre-prepared sediment-water slurry and allowing the deposit to consolidate for a period ranging from 2 to 14 days. A multi-layered hydrodynamic model, which considers the mud to be viscoelastic, has been developed and used to evaluate the bed shear stress at the oscillating mud-water interface. The viscoelastic property of the mud has been confirmed by rheological measurements, and model results on velocity, pressure and wave attenuation verified against flume data. Concentration profiles indicate a distinct evolutionary pattern resulting in a highly stratified suspension. Just above the bed, a thin layer of fluid mud is generated. Above this layer, the suspension concentration is significantly lower. This two-layered feature of the concentration profile is related to the oscillatory response of the mud and water layers, and the associated momentum exchange and mass diffusion characteristics. An expression relating the rate of erosion to the bed shear stress in excess of bed shear resistance has been developed. Generation of fluid mud during erosion is a significant feature of the role of waves over mud.     

Spatial heterogeneity in estuarine mud dynamics

The fate of mud in an estuary over an entire year was unravelled using complementary, independent, spatially explicit techniques. Sequential ERS-2 SAR and Envisat MERIS-FR data were used to derive synoptic changes in intertidal bottom mud and suspended particulate matter (SPM) in the top of the water column, respectively. These satellite data were combined with in situ measurements and with a high resolution three-dimensional cohesive sediment model, simulating mud transport, resuspension, settling and deposition under the influence of tides, wind, waves and freshwater discharge. The spatial distribution of both bottom mud and SPM as observed by in situ and satellite techniques was largely explained by modelled estuarine circulation, tidal and wind-induced variations in vertical mixing and horizontal advection. The three data sources also showed similar spring-neap and seasonal variations in SPM (all factor 1.5 to 2), but semi-diurnal tidal variations were underestimated by the model. Satellite data revealed that changes in intertidal bottom mud were spatially heterogeneous, but on average mud content doubled during summer, which was confirmed by in situ data. The model did not show such seasonal variation in bed sediment, suggesting that seasonal dynamics are not well explained by the physical factors presently implemented in the model, but may be largely attributed to other (internal) factors, including increased floc size in summer, temporal stabilisation of the sediment by microphytobenthos and a substantially lower roughness of the intertidal bed in summer as observed by the satellite. The effects of such factors on estuarine mud dynamics were evaluated.     

Erosion rate of sand and mud mixtures

Erosion of mixed cohesive and noncohesive sediments is studied using the erosion test instrument SEDFlume. The sediment mixtures are composed of well-sorted quartz sand (0.25–0.5 mm) and one of the three used muds: kaolinite, kaolinite-bentonite and Mississippi River muds. The mud contents cover from 0 to 100%. The measured data of erosion rate and bed shear stress are used to examine the segmented linear, nonlinear, and exponential erosion models. The parameters of each erosion model are related to the physical properties of sediment mixtures, including clay fraction, mud fraction, mixture dry density, and mud dry density. It is found that the three models can fit well with the data, and their parameters have strong relations with the mud fraction and mud dry density, to a less extent with the clay fraction, but not with the mixture dry density.     

Flow resistance and hydraulic geometry in bedrock rivers with multiple roughness length scales

Many models of incision by bedrock rivers predict water depth and shear stress from discharge; conversely, palaeoflood discharge is sometimes reconstructed from flow depth markers in rock gorges. In both cases, assumptions are made about flow resistance. The depth–discharge relation in a bedrock river must depend on at least two roughness length scales (exposed rock and sediment cover) and possibly a third (sidewalls). A conceptually attractive way to model the depth–discharge relation in such situations is to partition the total shear stress and friction factor, but it is not obvious how to quantify the friction factor for rough walls in a way that can be used in incision process models. We show that a single flow resistance calculation using a spatially averaged roughness length scale closely approximates the partitioning of stress between sediment and rock, and between bed and walls, in idealized scenarios. Both approaches give closer fits to the measured depth–discharge relations in two small bedrock reaches than can be achieved using a fixed value of Manning's n or the Chézy friction factor. Sidewalls that are substantially rougher or smoother than the bed have a significant effect on the partitioning of shear stress between bed and sidewalls. More research is needed on how best to estimate roughness length scales from observable or measurable channel characteristics. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characterization of a mud deposit offshore of the Patos Lagoon,southern Brazil

Rapid deposition of mud on the beach along the shoreface of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil dramatically influences the normal operations in the littoral zone. In the surf zone, fluid and suspended mud opposes water-wave movement and dissipates water-wave energy; on the beach, mud limits trafficability. As part of a multinational, multidisciplinary program to evaluate the influence of mud strength, density and viscosity on water-wave attenuation, sediments were evaluated in situ or collected for evaluation from an area offshore of Cassino Beach, slightly south of the Patos Lagoon mouth. Shear strength of deposited sediments ranged from 0.6 kPa at the seafloor to 3.4 kPa at ∼1 m below the seafloor. Mud sediments were also collected to simulate the in situ response of fluid mud to shear stresses. For this determination, rheological evaluations were made using a strain-controlled Couette viscometer on numerous remixed samples that ranged in density from 1.05 to 1.30 g/cm³. It was determined that this mud is a non-ideal Bingham material in that it has a true initial yield stress as well as a upper Bingham yield stress. Initial yield stress ranged from 0.59 to 2.62 Pa, upper Bingham yield stress ranged from 1.05 to 7.6 Pa. Apparent viscosity ranged from 0.02 to 4.7 Pa s with the highest viscosities occurring between the two yield stresses. Sediment strength in the remixed samples is 2 to 3 orders of magnitude lower than the horizontal shear strength of the sediment bed as determined by shear vane or predicted from penetrometer measurements. This difference is partially due to the fact that rheological evaluations are made on fully remixed sediments, whereas horizontal shear strength is determined within relatively undisturbed sediments. Similar values of viscosity and shear strength are comparable to those determined for mud in other coastal areas where fluid mud deposits occur.     

Relationship between bed shear stress and suspended sediment concentration:annular flume experiments

In this study,annular flume experiments were carried out,using the sediment samples collected from the lower part of the inter-tidal zone at Xiaoyangkou,Jiangsu coast,China.The Ariathurai-Partheniades equation was used to determine the bed shear stress,by evaluating variations in the suspended sediment concentration within the water column.The derived relation between the bed shear stress and suspended sediment concentration shows that,at various stages of seabed erosion, suspended sediment concentration increases rapidly when the flow velocity is increased,but the pattern of change in the bed shear stress does not follow suit.At low concentrations,bed shear stress initially increases markedly with increasing flow velocity.However,when the concentration reaches an apparently critical level around 0.55 kg m"3,the rate of change in the bed shear stress abruptly slows down,or becomes almost constant,in response to further increases in the flow velocity.Results of experiments indicate that,from a critical level onward,suspended sediment concentration has a strong influence on the bed shear stress.     

The formation of mud patches by non-linear diffusion

Deposits of mud on an otherwise sandy continental shelf floor commonly occur in the form of patches a few hundred meters in size. A model for the formation of these patches is proposed that is based on a resuspension mechanism that is a non-linear function of the percentage of fines in the surficial sediment. A diffusion equation governing the time evolution of the percentage fines is derived which for a certain range of fine sediment concentrations becomes unstable. Numerical solution of this equation shows that the spatial distribution of fine sediment breaks into two components in a manner qualitatively similar to observed mud patches.     

Interactions among waves,current, and mud: Numerical and laboratory studies

Interactions between waves, current, mud and turbulence are very complicated in the coastal and estuarine turbid waters. It is still necessary to improve our understanding of the fundamental physical processes governing the cohesive sediment transport in the coastal and estuarine waters. A numerical model is developed to study the interactions among waves, current, and mud. An eddy viscosity model for wave and current is proposed in order to close the equations of wave motion or of current motion in a combined flow, respectively. The equations of mud transport are derived based on the visco-elastic properties of mud. Coupling the equations of wave motion or of current motion for water layer with those of mud layer can give (1) wave height; (2) distributions of current velocities in the water layer; (3) distributions of transport velocities at the water–mud interface; and (4) distributions of mass transport velocities within the mud layer. These modeled results are in a reasonable agreement with experimental results. Results suggest that (1) the rate of wave attenuation increases in the opposing currents (currents against in the direction in which the waves propagate) and decreases in the following currents (currents in the same direction as that in which the waves propagate); (2) the opposing currents would have more significant effects on the rate of wave height attenuation than the following currents; (3) the effect of current on the rate of wave attenuation on the muddy bottom is larger than that on the rigid bottom; (4) mud transport rate increased in the following currents but decreased in the opposing currents; and (5) the rate of wave height attenuation on the mud bottom is one order of magnitude larger than that on the rigid bottom.     

A comparative study on the rheology and wave dissipation of kaolinite and natural Hendijan Coast mud, the Persian Gulf

The objective of this paper is to investigate the rheological behavior of kaolinite and Hendijan mud, located at the northwest part of the Persian Gulf, and the dissipative role of this muddy bed on surface water waves. A series of laboratory rheological tests was conducted to investigate the rheological response of mud to rotary and cyclic shear rates. While a viscoplastic Bingham model can successfully be applied for continuous controlled shear-stress tests, the rheology of fluid mud displays complex viscoelastic behavior in time-periodic motion. The comparisons of the behavior of natural Hendijan mud with commercial kaolinite show rheological similarities. A large number of laboratory wave-flume experiments were carried out with a focus on the dissipative role of the fluid mud. Assuming four rheological models of viscous, Kelvin-Voigt viscoelastic, Bingham viscoplastic, and viscoelastic-plastic for fluid mud layer, a numerical multi-layered model was applied to analyze the effects of different parameters of surface wave and muddy bed on wave attenuation. The predicted results based on different rheological models generally agree with the obtained wave-flume data implying that the adopted rheological model does not play an important role in the accuracy of prediction.     

On the use of horizontal acoustic Doppler profilers for continuous bed shear stress monitoring

Continuous monitoring of bed shear stress in large river systems may serve to better estimate alluvial sediment transport to the coastal ocean.Here we explore the possibility of using a horizontally deployed acoustic Doppler current profiler(ADCP) to monitor bed shear stress,applying a prescribed boundary layer model,previously used for discharge estimation.The model parameters include the local roughness length and a dip correction factor to account for sidewall effects.Both these parameters depend on river stage and on the position in the cross-section, and were estimated from shipborne ADCP data.We applied the calibrated boundary layer model to obtain bed shear stress estimates over the measuring range of the HADCP.To validate the results,co-located coupled ADCPs were used to infer bed shear stress,both from Reynolds stress profiles and from mean velocity profiles. From HADCP data collected over a period of 1.5 years,a time series of width profiles of bed shear stress was obtained for a tidal reach of the Mahakam River,East Kalimantan,Indonesia.A smaller dataset covering 25 hours was used for comparison with results from the coupled ADCPs.The bed shear stress estimates derived from Reynolds stress profiles appeared to be strongly affected by local effects causing upflow and downflow,which are not included in the boundary layer model used to derive bed shear stress with the horizontal ADCP.Bed shear stresses from the coupled ADCP are representative of a much more localized flow,while those derived with the horizontal ADCP resemble the net effect of the flow over larger scales.Bed shear stresses obtained from mean velocity profiles from the coupled ADCPs show a good agreement between the two methods,and highlight the robustness of the method to uncertainty in the estimates of the roughness length.     

LES-DEM simulations of sediment transport

In this work, a fully-coupled Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model and Discrete Element Method (DEM) are used to simulate a unidirectional turbulent open-channel flow over the full range of sediment transport regimes. The fluid and particles are computed on separate grids using a dual-grid formulation to maintain consistency and avoid instability issues. The results of coupling the dispersed phase to a multiphase flow solver that uses volume-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are compared to those obtained from coupling through drag to a single flow solver. The current work also examines the applicability and limitations of lumping particles as a representative particle to reduce the cost of simulations. Insight to the impact of different turbulent events to the entrainment of particles is also given. The simulation results of sediment transport from both coupling techniques show good agreement with empirical formulas in the bedload regime, but under-predict sediment transport in the suspended load regime. In the suspended load regime, using partial coupling, the rate of sediment transport was found to be under-predicted as compared to full-coupling. The deviation in results in the suspended load regime was found to increase with increases in the applied shear stress. Both coupling methods revealed the same effect on the friction factor where friction increases in the bedload regime and decreases in the suspended load regime reaching a maximum at the transition between regimes. This result is contrary to past studies which have shown a discrete jump in the friction factor at the transition. Lumping particles as representative particles is shown to reduce the simulation cost by more than a factor of 5 when using a scaling factor of 2. By doing a quadrant analysis on information obtained from particle and flow field results, it was found that most of the particles are entrained by more frequent sweep events.     

An examination of the rheology of flocculated clay suspensions

A dense cohesive sediment suspension, sometimes referred to as fluid mud, is a thixotropic fluid with a true yield stress. Current rheological formulations struggle to reconcile the structural dynamics of cohesive sediment suspensions with the equilibrium behaviour of these suspensions across the range of concentrations and shear. This paper is concerned with establishing a rheological framework for the range of sediment concentrations from the yield point to Newtonian flow. The shear stress equation is based on floc fractal theory, put forward by Mills and Snabre (1988). This results in a Casson-like rheology equation. Additional structural dynamics is then added, using a theory on the self-similarity of clay suspensions proposed by Coussot (1995), giving an equation which has the ability to match the equilibrium and time-dependent viscous rheology of a wide range of suspensions of different concentration and mineralogy.     

Flocculation settling characteristics of mud: sand mixtures

When natural muds become mixed with sandy sediments in estuaries, it has a direct effect on the flocculation process and resultant sediment transport regime. Much research has been completed on the erosion and consolidation of mud/sand mixtures, but very little is known quantitatively about how mixed sediments interact whilst in suspension, particularly in terms of flocculation. This paper presents the settling velocity findings from a recent laboratory study which examined the flocculation dynamics for three different mud/sand mixtures at different concentrations (0.2–5 g.l^?1) and turbulent shear stresses (0.06–0.9 Pa) in a mini-annular flume. The low intrusive video-based Laboratory Spectral Flocculation Characteristics instrument was used to determine floc/aggregate properties (e.g., size, settling velocity, density and mass) for each population. Settling data was assessed in terms of macrofloc (>160 μm) and microfloc (<160 μm) settling parameters: Ws_macro and Ws_micro, respectively. For pure muds, the macroflocs are regarded as the most dominant contributors to the total depositional flux. The parameterised settling data indicates that by adding more sand to a mud/sand mixture, the fall velocity of the macrofloc fraction slows and the settling velocity of microflocs quickens. Generally, a mainly sandy suspension comprising 25% mud and 75% sand (25M:75S), will produce resultant Ws_macro which are slower than Ws_micro. The quickest Ws_micro appears to consistently occur at a higher level of turbulent shear stress (τ?～?0.6 Pa) than both the macrofloc and microfloc fractions from suspensions of pure natural muds. Flocculation within a more cohesively dominant muddy-sand suspension (i.e., 75M:25S) produced macroflocs which fell at similar speeds (±10%) to pure mud suspensions at both low (200 mg l^?1) and intermediate (1 g?l^?1) concentrations at all shear stress increments. Also, low sand content suspensions produced Ws_macro values that were faster than the Ws_micro rates. In summary, the experimental results of the macrofloc and microfloc settling velocities have demonstrated that flocculation is an extremely important factor with regards to the depositional behaviour of mud/sand mixtures, and these factors must be considered when modelling mixed sediment transport in the estuarine or marine environment.     

Spatial variations in surface sediment structure in riffle–pool sequences: a preliminary test of the Differential Sediment Entrainment Hypothesis (DSEH)

Riffle–pool sequences are maintained through the preferential entrainment of sediment grains from pools rather than riffles. This preferential entrainment has been attributed to a reversal in the magnitude of velocity and shear stress under high flows; however the Differential Sediment Entrainment Hypothesis (DSEH) postulates that differential entrainment can instead result from spatial sedimentological contrasts. Here we use a novel suite of in situ grain‐scale field measurements from a riffle–pool sequence to parameterize a physically‐based model of grain entrainment. Field measurements include pivoting angles, lift forces and high resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) acquired using terrestrial laser scanning, from which particle exposure, protrusion and surface roughness were derived. The entrainment model results show that grains in pools have a lower critical entrainment shear stress than grains in either pool exits or riffles. This is because pool grains have looser packing, hence greater exposure and lower pivoting angles. Conversely, riffle and pool exit grains have denser packing, lower exposure and higher pivoting angles. A cohesive matrix further stabilizes pool exit grains. The resulting predictions of critical entrainment shear stress for grains in different subunits are compared with spatial patterns of bed shear stress derived from a two‐dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the reach. The CFD model predicts that, under bankfull conditions, pools experience lower shear stresses than riffles and pool exits. However, the difference in sediment entrainment shear stress is sufficiently large that sediment in pools is still more likely to be entrained than sediment in pool exits or riffles, resulting in differential entrainment under bankfull flows. Significantly, this differential entrainment does not require a reversal in flow velocities or shear stress, suggesting that sedimentological contrasts alone may be sufficient for the maintenance of riffle–pool sequences. This finding has implications for the prediction of sediment transport and the morphological evolution of gravel‐bed rivers. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of submerged granular flows by development of a two-phase incompressible explicit mesh-free method

The interaction between fluid and sediment particles is widely involved in hydraulic engineering problems. In the current study, an explicit incompressible mesh-free method in the framework of the Moving Particle Semi-implicit(MPS) method is proposed to simulate the interaction between the two phases in submerged conditions. The proposed method solves two sets of the continuity and momentum equations, respectively, for the fluid phase and the sediment phase according to the mixture theory. In th...     

Mass transport in a thin layer of power-law mud under surface waves

The mass transport velocity in a two-layer system is studied theoretically. The wave motion is driven by a periodic pressure load on the free water surface, and mud in the lower layer is described by a power-law rheological model. Perturbation analysis is performed to the second order to find the mean Eulerian velocity. A numerical iteration method is employed to solve the non-linear governing equation at the leading order. The influence of rheological properties on fluid motion characteristics including the flow field, the surface displacement, the mass transport velocity, and the net discharge rates are investigated based on theoretical results. Theoretical analysis shows that under the action of interfacial shearing, a recirculation structure may appear near the interface in the upper water layer. A higher mass transport velocity at the interface does not necessarily mean a higher discharge rate for a pseudo-plastic fluid mud.