Measurement of Sediment Retention in a Sandy Tidal Flat Based on Pressure Drop Model

• Published in: Transport in porous media Vol. 102; no. 1; pp. 123 - 136
• Main Authors: Touch, Narong, Hibino, Tadashi, Nakaoka, Takayuki, Nagatsu, Yoshiyuki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-03-2014; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Civil Engineering; Classical and Continuum Physics; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Equilibrium flow; Exact sciences and technology; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Hydrogeology; Hydrology; Hydrology. Hydrogeology; Hydrology/Water Resources; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Marine and continental quaternary; Porosity; Pressure drop; Retention; Sand beds; Sediments; Seepage; Surficial geology; Tidal flats; Tide prediction; Seepage; Sediment retention; Pressure drop; Sandy tidal flat; experimental studies; rivers; models; time variations; bacteria; porosity; pressure; seepage; transport; tidal flats; surface water; sand; prokaryotes; management; porous media; methodology; retention
• ISSN: 0169-3913; 1573-1634
• DOI: 10.1007/s11242-013-0266-3

Sediment can either play an important role in subsurface environments as a food source for bacteria or deteriorate the subsurface environments by its retention. Thus, understanding sediment retention is useful for designing the management of subsurface environments. The pressure drop model derived from the Kozeny–Carman model is experimentally verified by the seepage flow in sand beds. It was found that the water head in the sand bed under steady-state flow and variations of the water head corresponding to changes in the boundary water head could be reproduced by the pressure drop model. As the porosity of the sand bed is taken into account in the pressure drop model, the sediment retention can be predicted from variations of the porosity. Experimental results showed that the water head in the sand bed varied due to sediment retention. This ensured that variances in the porosity of the sand bed could be predicted, leading to the investigation onto sediment retention. A method based on the pressure drop model is proposed to measure temporal variations of the water head in a sandy tidal flat and river water head. From field experiments, the temporal variations of the water head in the tidal flat could be predicted when the porosity of the tidal flat was used. Conversely, it is expected that sediment retention in the tidal flat can be predicted based on the variations of the porosity, if the water head in the tidal flat is observed temporally.