Sediment rarefaction resuspension and contaminant release under tidal curren- ts

Based on experiment in tidal flume, this paper analyzes the sediment rarefactive phenomenon and hydraulic characteristics of sediment resuspension with different physical properties under the effect of tidal current. According to this experiment, sediment resuspension is related to the hydraulic characteristics of overlying water and its own dry density, namely the moisture content of sediment and deposition time. Generally, river sediment can be classified into the upper layer of floating sludge and lower layer of deposit sediment. Incipient velocity goes higher as the sediment layer goes thicker. Based on the experiment, incipient velocity formula of sediment can be obtained. There is a cohesive force among natural fine sediment whose resuspension is almost irrelevant to their diameters. Therefore, the critical incipient velocity is determined by the cohesive force instead of particle diameter. The lower layer of deposit sediment is generally not so easy to start up. And it will be rarified and release into the overlying water when contacting with overlying water. However, this rarefaction release velocity is gentle and slow. Under the same flow condition, annual loss amount of lower layer deposited sediment is about one fifth of upper layer of floating sediment. Flow velocity of tidal river and variation of the water level are asymmetrical, both of which vary under different tidal cycles. During long tidal cycle, flow velocity and water level change in the same phase and amplitude with tide. During the whole ebb and flow, flow direction does not change as the water level goes under the influence of acceleration and deceleration. As the tide cycle increases, the incipient velocity of sediment goes higher. This means that the long period tide cycle plays buffer effect on the resuspension of sediment, which makes the sediment not so easy both to start up and to suspend.