Abstract
The physical properties of fine cohesive sediment silted in reservoirs, such as organic matter content and particle diameter, vary among reservoirs. It causes the differences in their erosion processes. The main purposes of this study are to investigate which factor has a great influence on the erosion characteristic and to establish an index that describes the erosion property, which can be easily obtained by laboratory test.
Physical properties of fine cohesive sediments in several reservoirs have been measured, and it was found that humus content dominates their shear strengths. The measurement results on the critical shear strength and the erosion rate shows that liquid limit can be an important index of erosion property.
