A device to examine the in situ response of intertidal cohesive sediment deposits to fluid shear

A self-contained, field-portable recirculating seawater flume was designed and constructed in order to measure in situ the erodibility of cohesive estuarine muds. The flume can be easily deployed by one person and is designed for subaerial use only. Bed shear stresses up to 0.6 Nm−2 can be generated by the flume. Rates of sediment erosion are assessed in terms of the mass of particulate material eroded with time. Flow calibrations yield a drag coefficient (CD) of 4.5 × 10−3 which enables single mid-depth velocity measurements to be related directly to the imposed bed stress. Water motions within the flume are complex, but secondary (radial) circulations are not considered sufficiently competent to dominate sediment erosion. Stratification effects due to high levels of suspended sediment (∼ 1.5 gl−1) are negligible. However, the drag-reducing properties of the sediment suspension are uncertain.