Dynamics of Sediment Clouds in Waves

Abstract

The effects of surface waves on a sediment cloud descending through the water column were investigated experimentally. It was observed that during the descent, the sediment cloud was generally advected by the oscillatory wave orbital motion, but with a decrease in the entrainment growth rate compared to the quiesent condition. As the wave height increased, the coherency of the sediment vortex core was diminished by the increased wave orbital velocities, to the extent that the sediment thermal lost its coherency entirely during part of the wave cycle when the wave height was sufficiently large.