Characteristics of sediment resuspension in Taihu Lake under simulative disturbing conditions

The characteristic of sediment resuspension is investigated under simulative disturbing conditions. The sediment core samples collected from the Taihu Lake were run in the particle entrainment simulator at simulated bed-flow shear stresses from 0.2 to 0.6 N/m2 for the period of vibration varying from 60 to 1800 seconds. Results show that the concentration of suspended particulate matter (SPM) in the overlaying water rises at a fast rate initially. The higher the simulated bed-flow shear stress is, the faster the rising rate will be. The rising rate slows gradually and will be stabilized as time progressed. In addition to the divergence of sediment resuspension, the convergence of SPM will increase over time until the two processes in the particle entrainment simulator reach dynamic equilibrium. Our indoor experiment portrays well the characteristic of sediment resuspension observed in Taihu Lake, which demonstrates the applicability of using the particle entrainment simulator to studying the dynamic of sediment resuspension in laboratories.