A conceptual framework for shear flow–induced erosion of soft cohesive sediment beds

This paper proposes a conceptual framework for erosion of cohesive sediment beds. We focus on cohesive beds, distinguishing between floc erosion, surface erosion, and mass erosion. By (our) definition, surface erosion is a drained soil mechanical process, whereas mass erosion occurs under undrained conditions. The eroding shear stress is modeled through a probability density function. This yields a continuous description of floc erosion and surface erosion as a function of mean bed shear stress. Furthermore, we assume a distribution for the bed strength. The mean values of the bed strength are derived from soil mechanical theory, assuming that the surface erosion rate is limited by the swelling rate from the undrained shear strength in the bed to its drained value at its surface. The rate of erosion then relates to the undrained shear strength of the soil, and its consolidation (swelling) coefficient. The critical shear stress for erosion is slightly larger than the true cohesion of the bed, i.e., the drained strength, and follows a power law relation with the plasticity index. The conceptual framework proposed herein has been validated against a limited number of experimental data, and has a series of advantages above other methods of direct measuring erodibility, as it is inexpensive and can be used to attain space-covering information on the sediment bed. Moreover, the use of bulk soil mechanical parameters accounts implicitly for the effects of organic material, though the role of, e.g., macrophytobenthos mats and/or bioturbation is difficult to capture a priori