Research on cohesive sediment erosion by flow: An overview

Erosion of cohesive sediment by flow is a very complicated phenomenon occurring worldwide. Understanding and modeling of the erosion process are important for many issues such as the breaching of embankments, riverbank stability, siltation of harbors and navigation channels, service life of reservoirs, distribution of (heavy metal) pollutants and water quality problems. In the last few decades, numerous studies have been done on the erosion of cohesive sediment by flow. Nevertheless, the factors affecting the erosion resistance of cohesive sediment are still not fully understood and the knowledge of the physics of cohesive sediment erosion is in- adequate, as a result the mathematical modeling of this erosion is far from satis- factory. In this paper an overview of the studies on the erosion resistance, erosion threshold and the erosion rate of cohesive sediment by flow is presented. The outcomes achieved so far from the studies and the existing problems have been analyzed and summarized, based on which recommendations are proposed for future research.