Rheological Analysis of Mud: Towards an Implementation of the Nautical Bottom Concept in the Port of Hamburg

The nautical bottom (the level at which contact with a ship’s keel causes either damage or unacceptable effects on controllability and manoeuvrability of a ship) should be associated to a measurable physical characteristic. Bulk density is typically used as a criterion for nautical bottom by many ports worldwide. However, the rheological...

Rheology of Mud: An Overview for Ports and Waterways Applications

Mud, a cohesive material, consists of water, clay minerals, sand, silt and small quantities of organic matter (i.e., biopolymers). Amongst the different mud layers formed by human or natural activities, the fluid mud layer found on top of all the others is quite important from navigational point of view in ports and waterways. Rheological...

Is density enough to predict the rheology of natural sediments?

Mud is a cohesive material which contains predominantly clay minerals, water, organic matter and some amounts of silt and sand. Mud samples can have complex rheological behaviour, displaying viscoelasticity, shear-thinning, thixotropy and yield stress. In this study, influence of organic matter on the rheological behaviour of different mud...