Dewatering effects on the erodibility of newly deposited cohesive beds by unidirectional currents

A series of laboratory experiments on cohesive sediments under inorganic conditions was undertaken in order to evaluate the impact of fluid bed shear stress on the build-up of bed resistance to erosion with time. The importance of small pressures due to flowing water to increase bed strength is presented. It is also shown that the susceptibility of a cohesive bed to changes in its erodibility is related to deposited bed thickness due to sediment disturbance caused by dewatering from the consolidating bed. Laboratory experiments that use beds deposited from suspension should thus report the thickness of the bed prior to resuspension.