Abstract
Abstract. Sea-level rise, the increasing number and intensity of storms, oil and groundwater extraction, and coastal land subsidence are putting people and property at risk along Louisiana’s coast, with major implications for human safety and economic health of coastal areas. A major goal towards re-establishing a healthy and sustainable coastal ecosystem has been to rebuild Louisiana’s disappearing wetlands with fine grained sediments that are dredged or diverted from nearby rivers, channels and lakes to build land in open water areas. A thorough geo-hydrodynamic characterization of the deposited sediments is important in the correct design and a more realistic outcome assessment of the long-term performance measures for ongoing coastal restoration projects. This paper evaluates the effects of salinity and solid particle concentration on the re-suspension characteristics of fine-grained dredged sediments obtained from multiple geographic locations along the Gulf coast. The critical bed-shear-stress for erosion has been evaluated as a function of sedimentation time. The sediment hydrodynamic properties obtained from the laboratory testing were used in a numerical coastal sediment distribution model to aid in evaluating sediment diversions from the Mississippi River into Breton Sound and Barataria Bay.
Highlights
Sea level rise, the increasing number and intensity of coastal storms, and other natural and human hazards are putting more people and property at risk in Louisiana, with major implications for human safety and the economic health of coastal areas
Sedimentation Time the settling curve depends on the grain size distribution, salinity of the slurry, as well as on the initial solids particle concentration in the slurry
This paper presents the results of sedimentation and re-suspension characteristics of four dredged samples obtained from different geographic locations
Summary
The increasing number and intensity of coastal storms, and other natural and human hazards are putting more people and property at risk in Louisiana, with major implications for human safety and the economic health of coastal areas. The sedimentation and re-suspension characteristics of the dredged material as well as their effects on the time rate of settlement of the suspended solid particles and underlying foundation soil depend, among other factors, on (a) the grain size distribution of the dredged material, (b) salinity (fresh, brackish, or saltwater environment) of the composite slurry, and (c) the concentration of the solid particles in the slurry. This test was run for 15 days in a controlled laboratory environment and the sedimentation characteristics of the dredged slurry were monitored on a regular basis.
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