Estimation of suspended sediment concentration by acoustic equations for soil sediment

Abstract

The acoustic backscattering systems, ABS, for sediment measurement are based on the determining of the backscattering and attenuation properties of the particles in suspension. The relevant acoustic quantities are the form function, f, which describes the backscattering characteristics, and the normalized total scattering cross-section, χ, which describes the attenuating characteristics of the particles in suspension. Formulations are required for these parameters of suspension sediment particles with size and acoustic frequency. Several studies have been conducted to determine the concentration of sediments such as glass spheres or sand. However, the acoustic properties of natural sediments vary and depend on many parameters such as particle size, shape, mineralogy and distribution of those parameters in sample. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the possibility of soil sediment concentration with the f and χ equations, which were obtained for glass spheres and sandy sediments under laboratory and river conditions. The results show that the acoustic method, especially with glass scattering equation, works fairly well to calculate soil sediment for low concentration range at laboratory and river conditions. © 2010 Academic Journals.