Date of Award

12-2022

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Program

Engineering and Applied Science - Civil & Environmental

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Major Professor

Satish Bastola Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Alex McCorquodale

Third Advisor

Malay Ghose Hajara

Fourth Advisor

Ioannis Georgio

Fifth Advisor

Mark A. Kulp

Sixth Advisor

Donald E. Barbe

Abstract

The research presented in this study is motivated by the need to improve the predictions of cohesive sediment erosion and subsequent transport. In addition, the knowledge of the geotechnical engineering soil properties related to the erosion of sediments in coastal Louisiana has broad implications as these properties are used in transport models guiding the current restoration efforts. The erosion measuring device used in the study is the Cheng-Han Tasi and Wilbert Lick Shaker. Previous studies have been conducted before using the Shaker, but challenges with the calibration of the shear stress hampered the resuspension results produced by the Shaker. Therefore, this study aims to examine the flow conditions inside the Shaker using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software Ansys. This allowed for a calibration curve based on 2-D flow conditions inside the Shaker rather than other erosion experiments. The soil sample tested using the Shaker are mainly from the southeast Louisiana coastline, which is significantly impacted by erosion. Moreover, the current study estimates the critical shear stress Pa of erosion for both mass and surface erosion, along with erosion parameters (m). Furthermore, this study further develops a simple sediment resuspension and distribution model. This model aims to improve the efficiency of data analysis in the current Louisiana Integrated Compartment Model (ICM) sediment distribution subroutine, which uses other languages for some sediment transport simulations. Moreover, The ICM is much larger and captures a wide range of processes making it computationally demanding to answer research questions. Therefore, the new model will be simpler and only capture some processes. Furthermore, this change will allow research questions to be answered more economically than using larger integrated models.

Rights

The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.

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