Model for Turbidity Plume Induced by Bucket Dredge

Abstract

A model based on the analytical solution of an advective‐diffusion equation is developed to describe the turbidity plume induced by the operation of a bucket dredge. The model applies to the portion of the plume beyond the initial mixing zone where the separate patches of suspended sediments have coalesced into a continuous plume. It predicts the vertical average suspended sediment concentration within the plume as a function of the source strength of suspended sediment, the characteristics of the ambient flow field and the effective particle settling velocity. Four sets of field data from previous studies are compared with the model. It is shown that the model describes the qualitative feature of prototype data and that the calibrated model parameters agree with independent observations.