Experimental investigation of erosion and transport of binary sediment in sewer pipes

ABSTRACT Understanding sediment transport in storm sewer systems is essential to prevent pipe blockages, associated flooding, and maintenance. In this research, a laboratory study was conducted in a pipe to investigate the erosion and transport process of a binary sediment, i.e., a material with two different particle sizes. The sediment used in this study was a mixture of two sizes of spherical glass beads (0.8 and 4 mm) and two sizes of natural soil (sand and gravel), with different amounts of small size particles. The results show that the critical velocities for the initiation of sediment transport increase linearly with a decrease in the fine particle content of the mixture. A method to predict the critical velocity of a binary mixture is proposed based on the fine content and the critical velocity of single-size large particle and single-size small particle sediments. The transport rate of the mixture lies between that of the single-size large sediment and single-size small sediment. The transport rate is increased with an increase in the fine content, which means that mixing small particles with large particles can significantly increase the transport rate of large particles and the total transport rate.