2024 Volume 80 Issue 17 Article ID: 24-17146
The influence of soil type contained in turbidity currents which cause damages to infrastructure placed on the seafloor has not been fully investigated. In this study, turbidity currents using suspensions of silica flour, kaolinite, and Tokyo Bay dredged clay with different volume concentrations of C = 0.5-11% were observed in an experimental flume, and the average head velocities of turbidity currents uav were measured. The viscous characteristics of these suspensions were also measured by a viscometer. The values of uav of the silica turbidity currents without clay minerals increased non-linearly with increasing C. On the other hand, the uav - C relationship of clay turbidity currents showed an upward convex trend, where the value of uav reached its maximum at the relevant C equivalent to water contents 10 times higher than their liquid limits. The values of plastic viscosity and yield stress of the clay suspensions changed significantly at these relevant C values. Furthermore, the resulting Reynolds numbers also corresponded to the range for the transition from laminar to turbulent flows.
