Settling Velocity of Sediment Particle Clouds

Abstract:

The most of previous sediment settling velocity formulas were suitable for single sediment particle. Based on the previous research results on single sediment particle settling velocity laws and the experimental data of sediment particle cloud during the settlement process in water body, the formulas for calculating the settling velocity of sediment particle cloud were proposed by introducing two factors, i.e., the characteristic particle size of sediment particle cloud and additional particle size, to correct the existing single sediment particle settling velocity formulas. The settling velocity values of sediment particle cloud calculated by the corrected formulas were very close to the experimentally measured settling velocity values of sediment particle cloud, which indicates the corrected formula can be applied to calculate the settling velocity of sediment particle clouds.

Key words:sediment; particle cloud; settling velocity; characteristic particle size; additional particle size