Aggregation and Disaggregation of Flocculated Particles with Different Mineralogy

Abstract:

The fate, transport and depositional rate of fine grained sediments are known to depend on floc size, hydrodynamic stress, cohesive sediment types and organic matter. In recent laboratory studies, it was determined that flocculated sediments will readily disaggregate at moderate Reynolds numbers and degrade further as the hydrodynamic stresses increase. This was the case for pure clays of montmorillonite, kaolinite and illite with biopolymers that had varied net charges of net neutral, anionic and cationic. In these initial studies, flocculated sediments were found to rapidly disaggregate under high shear stresses from large aggregates of 500 to 2000 microns to approximately three to four times the median grain size of the primary particles or 30 to 40 microns. More recently, laboratory and natural flocs were analyzed to determine if particle disaggregation was reversible and if particles would increase in size as the stress state was reduced. The montmorillonite rich samples were found to begin to reaggregate within 20 minutes of a reduction in shear stress and these flocs approached that of the original floc sizes. On the other hand, kaolinite rich samples displayed a slower rate of reaggregation and a significant delay in reaggregation after the reduction of shear stress. results indicate that clay mineralogy plays a large role in flocculation, and specifically dissaggregation and reaggregation rates at varied hydrodynamic conditions that regularly occur within estuarine and nearshore environments.