ARTICLE IN PRESS

Water Research 39 (2005) 52215231

www.elsevier.com/locate/watres

The erosion behaviour of biologically active sewer sediment

deposits: Observations from a laboratory study
Robert Banasiaka,, Ronny Verhoevena, Renaat De Suttera, Simon Taitb
a

Hydraulics Laboratory, Department of Civil Engineering, Ghent University, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
b
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, University of Sheffield, Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 3JD, UK
Received 26 April 2004; received in revised form 29 April 2005; accepted 7 October 2005

Abstract
The erosion behaviour of various ne-grained sediment deposits has been investigated in laboratory experiments.
This work mainly focused on tests using sewer sediment in which strong biochemical reactions were observed during the
deposit formation period. A small number of initial tests were conducted in which the deposits were made from
mixtures of clean mineral and organic sediments. The erosion behaviour observed in these tests was compared with
the erosion characteristics for sediments taken from deposits in a sewer. The impact of the biological processes on
physical properties such as bulk density, water content, deposit structure and the erosive behaviour as a function of bed
shear stress are quantied and discussed. Based on these observations it is believed that bio-processes weaken the
strength of the in-pipe sediment deposits. A signicantly weaker sediment surface layer was observed during deposition
under quiescent oxygen-rich conditions. This resulted in a deposit with low shear strength which may be a cause of a
rst foul ush of suspended sediment when ow rates were increased. Comparison between tests with sewer sediments
and the articial representative surrogates suggested that the deposits of the later did not correctly simulate the
depositional development and the resultant erosion patterns observed with the more bio-active sewer sediment.
r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Sewer sediments; Surrogate sediments; Erosion; Deposition; Bed load; Microbiology

1. Introduction
In recent years demands for water quality improvement in natural watercourses has led to the mandatory
assessment of the performance of sewer networks and
where required the implementation of improvements
especially with regard to the ecological impact of sewer
overows on recipient watercourses. Most of the sewer
systems in the EU are combined, as they carry both
domestic wastewater and rain water from urban areas to
treatment plants. They can carry high loads of both
Corresponding author. Tel.: +3292643284;
fax: +3292643595.
E-mail address: Robert.Banasiak@ugent.be (R. Banasiak).

organic and inorganic solid particles, often termed insewer sediments.

Problems are associated with the presence of signicant in-sewer sediment deposits. The presence of
sediment deposits reduces the ow capacity due to the
reduction of ow area and increased hydraulic resistance. This, as a consequence, can cause more frequent
spill events and can therefore result in higher amounts of
pollutants being released through combined sewer
overows into natural water courses during storm
events.
Field studies have indicated that the re-suspension
and transport of existing deposited in-pipe sediment can
be the main source of pollution associated with storm
events. Up to 80% of the pollutant loads discharged

0043-1354/$ - see front matter r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.watres.2005.10.011

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R. Banasiak et al. / Water Research 39 (2005) 52215231

from overows during storm events have been attributed

to the erosion of deposited in-pipe sediments (Ahyerre,
1999; Ahyerre and Chebbo, 2002; Ashley et al.,
1992a,b). These observations emphasise the desirability
of having the ability to control in-sewer sedimentation
processes as a method for reducing the subsequent
pollutant releases from combined sewer systems. For
this to be possible, proper design relationships, that can
reliably predict sedimentation zones and subsequent
erosion rates, need to be formulated. Existing numerical
models simulate, with acceptable reliability, the time
varying hydraulic performance of complex sewer networks. However, their performance in terms of sediment
mobility and the related water quality parameters is
much more limited. This poor performance may be due
to the current assumptions made in the relationship used
to simulate in-sewer sediment transport. Current methods (e.g. Ackers et al., 1996) assume that in-sewer
sediments are granular and that particle characteristics
are inorganic and uniform in nature. These models
therefore neglect several important aspects in the insewer sediment cycle. In-sewer sediment follow a cycle of
deposition in dry weather, followed by erosion and
transport in storm events. Current modelling approaches ignore such physical processes such as consolidation, and do not consider any chemical and
biological processes. The improvement of knowledge
related to these processes will address key weaknesses of
current sewer modelling and is essential for better
management of sewer sediments (Ashley et al., 2000).

2. In-sewer sedimentation
Combined sewers experience a wide range of time
varying ows during dry and wet weather conditions. In
such sewers, a number of different types of sediment
deposit have been identied and categorised either with
reference to their source or their physical and chemical
characteristics (e.g. Crabtree, 1989). Typically, in-sewer
deposits are mixtures of inorganic and organic sediment
fractions with the proportions depending on factors
such as catchment characteristics, sewer type, sewer
geometry, the prevailing domestic and industrial water
use, and the sanitary habits of the contributing
population. Field observations reported that sewer
deposits have a wide range of physical characteristics
and that they can possess a signicant degree of
cohesion and erosional strength. Fieldwork by Ristenpart and Uhl (1993) reported a range of entrainment
thresholds for ne grained, cohesive-like deposits in
combined sewers. During dry weather, they observed
erosion beginning at bed shear stresses equal to 0.7 N/
m2, whilst after prolonged periods of dry weather ow
the bed shear stress required to initiate motion increased
to 3.3 N/m2.

Exposed to such a variation of ow rates, the

sedimentation or erosion processes normally do not
reach a state of long-term equilibrium. Under dry
weather conditions mixtures of solids are moving near
the bed. During storm ows, a large proportion of the
organic content of the near-bed material is re-entrained
thus leaving predominantly larger inorganic sediments
in the near-bed region (Arthur and Ashley, 1998). These
denser, inorganic sediments usually form the major part
of the sediment deposits found in the inverts of pipes
(Crabtree, 1989).
Deposition in sewers generally occurs during periods
of dry weather and during decelerating ows, when the
generated storm ow is receding. At specic locations in
the sewer network, settlement and deposition will occur
depending upon the local shear stress and sewer
geometry, the concentration and nature of solids in
suspension near the bed (Laplace et al., 1992). Fine
sediments in the water column, which have the ability to
occulate, can also deposit when bed shear stresses, as a
result of changes in ow conditions or pipe topography,
are reduced to a level below that which causes oc
break-up. On top of the coarser, granular deposits a
surcial ne-grained lamina can be formed and is
frequently reported as a biolm or organic layer
(Ahyerre et al., 2001). This layer usually has lower
erosion resistance and is believed to be continuously
changing because of ongoing biological and sedimentation processes. It is also expected that the arrangement
on the surface of both ne organic particles as well as the
coarser inorganic ones will be inuenced by the local
near-bed ow, which arranges the surface particles to
maximise their stability. Experimental work by Lau and
Droppo (2000) indicated that ne-grained sediment
beds, which are formed under shear ows, are often
much more resistant to erosion than such beds deposited
under quiescent conditions.
Storm events can input a wide range of sediment types
and volumes into sewers and the resultant time varying
ows can cause very different levels of disturbance to
the in-pipe deposits. In-sewer deposits may therefore
become layered or mixed due to these interacting
processes and their structure can also be inuenced by
ongoing biochemical reactions. Hence the deposited
beds in sewers are heterogeneous and can exhibit
thixotropic characteristics (Ashley et al., 2000). Knowledge of the time-dependent ow variability, combined
with knowledge of the sediment supplied is thus a key
element for proper evaluation of in-sewer sedimentation
processes.

3. Biological effects on the sediment bed

Sediments in sewer systems, once deposited and even
when being transported, have the potential to be

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R. Banasiak et al. / Water Research 39 (2005) 52215231

modied by ongoing biological and chemical processes.

The sewer may therefore be considered as a reactor
where the solids are subjected to biodegradation under
potentially both aerobic and anaerobic conditions
(Hvitved-Jacobsen et al., 2002). It is also starting to be
recognised that the biological processes associated with
released sediment may be different from those in
wastewater (McIlhatton et al., 2002).
The conveyance of suspended sediment and the
balance between entrainment and sedimentation is
affected by the presence of buoyant micro-organisms
which can promote oc formation and growth. The
resulting ocs comprise organic and detrital material,
organisms and their extrudates. They show a decrease in
density and a higher water content compared to abiotic
aggregates and as a consequence have smaller settling
velocities (van Leussen, 1988). As settling particles come
in contact with the bed, they adhere and so become part
of a loose, poorly consolidated, surface layer at the
watersediment interface.
In certain natural environments the consolidation of
settled particles and their subsequent erosion is subjected to the actions of benthic fauna (Spork et al., 1997;
Black et al., 2002). In other environments, processes
within sediment deposits such as particle size and
chemical variations, pore-water changes, and the adhesive forces between particles can all be inuenced by
biological processes (Montague, 1986). The interactions
of these processes can then affect the threshold of
sediment motion and the underlying strength of the
deposit.
In general, two different and contradictory effects of
the bio-processes on the sediment erosional strength
have been observed in deposits containing negrained sediments; stabilisation and weakening of
sediment deposits (Black et al., 2002). The rst effect
is related to the development of the organic biolm
on the top of weak cohesive or loose non-cohesive
sediment bed. The organic coating improves the
cohesion of sediment particles and aggregates (Vos
et al., 1988). Microbial exopolymers, which are the
mucous secretions, are composed of polymer chains
with high molecular weight and can form a dense
biolm on the sediment surface which may even ll up
inter-particle voids. This process is believed to result in
the formation of a compact, elastic sediment deposit
surface showing a signicant reduction in its surface
roughness and an increase in uid boundary shear
stress at the threshold of sediment motion. Nutrient
depletion or a high carbon to nitrogen ratio within
the overlying ow can increase the secretion of
polymeric substances (Prochnov et al., 2000).
Filamentous organisms like cyanobacteria, fungi and
bacteria can also build up in the inter-particle networks
and can extend to deeper sediment layers (Vos et al.,
1988).

5223

Changes in the erosion strength with time has been

observed in laboratory studies using deposits of
surrogate sediments containing activated sludge as the
organic material (Prochnov et al., 2000; Lau and
Droppo, 2000) and sewer sediment (Vollertsen and
Hvitved-Jacobsen, 2000).
Depending on the oxygen supply from the water
column, the sediment associated bacterial processes can
evolve in different ways. When the dissolved oxygen
level is high, usually the aerobic and facultative aerobic
bacteria are dominant. The exopolymeric production in
the aeration zone becomes rather small because of the
high nutrient levels and accelerated growth. Moreover,
the intensive production of CO2 in the form of bubbles
may counteract the process of consolidation and
sediment stabilisation (Vollertsen and Hvitved-Jacobsen, 2000). In situations in which the oxygen concentration drops and/or the nutrient supply is interrupted the
exopolymeric secretion increases and eventually anaerobic metabolism is favoured. Under such conditions, the
sedimentwater interface forms a biochemical boundary layer, effectively describing aerobic and anaerobic
domains. The presence of anaerobic processes within the
sediment deposit will also affect the process of consolidation.
The anaerobic metabolism of the microbes has a
weakening effect on the deposit strength. The result of
this biodegradation is the accumulation of gaseous
products such as methane (CH4), hydrogen sulphide
(H2S) and ammonia (NH3) within the deposit layer.
While the latter substances readily dissolve, methane
forms gas bubbles as soon as the maximum level of
solubility in the pore water is exceeded. The presence of
such bubbles disturbs the natural structure of a sediment
deposit and will probably disrupt frictional inter-particle
bonds. The prediction of such natural formations of gas
bubbles therefore becomes a key issue for the management of cohesive sediment deposits (Wijdeveld and van
Kesteren, 1999).
The interface between water and sediment layer
or between the aerobic and anaerobic zone may be
disrupted by the presence of micro- and macroinvertebrates as these are the most numerous biota in
natural sediments besides the unicellular organisms.
This fauna collectively with microorganisms (fungi,
and bacteria) and benthic invertebrates facilitate the
breakdown of organic material, but also contribute
to the changes in the sediment structure by displacement
of solid aggregates, breaking inter-particle bonds,
and increasing the void ratio, with consequent increases
in permeability and water content. The dissolved
oxygen, that is normally present in the water
column at higher levels, can now be more easily
transferred into the sediment bed leading to an increase
of the thickness of top layer where the aerobic processes
dominate.

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R. Banasiak et al. / Water Research 39 (2005) 52215231

The aim of the reported study was to examine and

quantify the effect of the biological processes on the
development of deposit strength and therefore on the
erosion and transport of sediment from sewer deposits.
The experiments presented extend earlier research (e.g.
Skipworth, 1996; Tait et al., 1998; De Sutter et al., 2000)
conducted at both the Universities of Gent and
Shefeld. The most recent tests utilised similar techniques as in previous tests performed in a re-circulating
tilting ume (De Sutter et al., 2000) but also includes
additional aspects related to the study of the changes in
the sediment bed due to biological processes during the
initial depositional period in each test. Tests were carried
out using both articial sediment mixtures, designed to
be representative of sewer sediments, and sediments
mixtures taken from in-sewer deposits. The articial
mixtures contained a mineral material (sand) and an
organic binder (crushed olivestone our). Results are
reported from both series of tests enabling direct
comparison of the erosional behaviour and therefore
an evaluation of suitability of the articial surrogates in
simulating the behaviour of in-sewer deposits.

4.1. Composition of the studied sediment mixtures

4.1.1. Sewer sediment mixture: its origins and
characteristics
The sewer sediment used in the tests was sourced from
the combined sewer system in the city of Dendermonde
in Belgium. They were collected from a small 3
5 m2
open tank located in an open channel section of the
main sewer line. The trap sediments were believed to be
representative of pipe deposits. This assumption is
supported by the observations made by Vollertsen
et al. (1999) who made measurements on aerobic
transformations associated with sediments collected
from within an invert trap and sewer pipe in the Dundee
sewer system and found no signicant differences. The
deposited sediment was collected for two test series; one
conducted in April 2002 (series A) and the other in June
2002 (series B). Before being used in the laboratory tests,
a small number of large non-representative coarse
particles made of paper, wood, plastic and metal were
removed by sieving all the collected sediment using a
20 mm mesh.
The analysis of particle size distribution showed that
the sediment characteristic diameter (d50) is 0.17 mm,
with a standard deviation (sg) equal to 2.31. The organic
matter content was found to be between 16% and 17%.
The specic density (rs) of the dry content was estimated
to vary between 2050 and 2300 kg/m3. As can be seen
from Fig. 1 the size distribution of the material collected
for test series A and B was very similar.

Percent of finer (%)

4. Experimental work

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0.01

Sampling A
Sampling B

0.1
1
Grain diameter d (mm)

10

Fig. 1. Particle size distribution of the sewer sediments

collected for test series A and B.

4.1.2. Artificial surrogate sediment mixtures

The use of an articial sediment mixture with sand as
non-cohesive granular component and clay as cohesive
component has been suggested previously as a suitable
analogue to simulate the properties of in- sewer deposits
(Williams et al., 1989). Such cohesive mixtures have been
used to quantify the impact of cohesion on the erosion
and transport of sediment with regard to the
self-cleansing design of sewer pipes (De Sutter et al.,
2000). Organic binders have also been utilised as a
surrogate to represent the ne organic fraction found in
combined sewer sediments (e.g. Skipworth, 1996; Tait
et al., 1998).
Following this work, tests using mixtures of sand and
an articial cohesive binder have been included in the
current study. The clay used was kaolinite with a
d50 6 mm. The organic binder is a crushed olivestone
our in which rs 1380 kg/m3 and d50 45 mm. In
these earlier studies tests used mixtures of either a ne
graded sand and a mineral cohesive binder or sand and
an organic binder. In this study, the tests were extended
and mixtures containing sand and both olivestone and
clay were used. The proportions of each component
were 70%, 20% and 10%, respectively, in order to
imitate more closely the grain size distribution and
organic matter content of the sediments found in sewer
deposits in Dendermonde, see Fig. 2.
4.2. Experimental tests
4.2.1. Description of laboratory set-up
Experiments were conducted in a tilting 11 m long
recirculating ume. The ume has a semi-circular crosssection with an internal diameter of 0.39 m. The ume
walls were covered with an abrasive paper to provide a
hydraulic roughness similar to concrete pipe walls. The
roughness coefcient kw of the ume wall was determined experimentally to be 0.4 mm. The bed slope of the
tilting ume was xed at 0.003. The sediment was placed
in a central section (4 m long) of the ume.

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Percent of finer (%)

R. Banasiak et al. / Water Research 39 (2005) 52215231

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0.001

5225

Table 1
Sediment compositions and deposit phase durations for tests
112
Test no.

sand
clay
olivestone
mix s-c-o
sewer sed.
0.01
0.1
1
Grain diameter d (mm)

10

Fig. 2. Grain size distribution of the surrogate sediment

mixture components and the sewer sediments.

Discharge was controlled by the adjustment of a

computer controlled buttery valve. This valve
was located in the horizontal inlet pipe to the ume
upstream of an electromagnetic discharge meter.
Two hydrostatic pressure transducers measured the
upstream and downstream water level at both ends of
the sediment bed section. A slot type bedload trap was
located at the end of the sediment bed section, 7.5 m
from the ume inlet. It had a load cell which recorded
the accumulated weight of trapped sediment. Material
that entered this trap is considered as the bed load whilst
the sediment remaining in the ow is regarded as
suspended load. Suspended sediment concentrations
were measured using an infrared Partech 15C transmission sensor and a Staiger Mohilo backscatter sensor.
Suspended sediment transport rates were obtained
by calculating the product of velocity and concentration proles. More details of the experimental equipment and procedures can be found in De Sutter et al.
(1999a).
4.2.2. Test conditions
Twelve tests were carried out (Table 1). Three tests
were performed on a mixture of sand and olivestone and
one with a mixture of clay and sand and one with a
mixture of sand, clay and crushed olivestone. These
sediment mixtures were prepared by dry mixing the
required amounts of the components and then adding a
controlled amount of water to produce a slurry that was
then placed carefully in the pipe invert. The sediment
was levelled in the measuring section of the ume to
obtain a thickness of 40 mm alone the pipe centreline.
Clean water was then introduced slowly, from both
upstream and downstream ends of the ume, until a still
water depth of approximately 70 mm was achieved over
the sediment bed. During the deposit phase of each test
oxygen was supplied to maintain a constant level of
dissolved oxygen in the overlying water. The level of
dissolved oxygen was measured twice a day and its
content was observed to be always between 70% and

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Sediment mixture description

20% Olivestone: 80% sand

20% Olivestone: 80% sand
20% Olivestone: 80% sand
20% Olivestone: 10% clay:
70% sand
Sewer sediment series A
Sewer sediment series A
Sewer sediment series A
Sewer sediment series B
Sewer sediment series B
Sewer sediment series B
Sewer sediment series B
Sewer sediment series B

Duration of
deposit phase
(days)
0
4
10
4
0
4
11
0
1
3
0 (repeated)
1 (repeated)

80% of full saturation. The consolidation periods for the

sand-olivestone mixture lasted between 0 and 10 days,
whilst the mixture of sand, clay and olivestone was
deposited for 4 days.
The erosion tests using sewer sediment were prepared
in a similar fashion. Seven tests were carried out using
sewer sediments and the duration of the preparatory
depositional phase lasted between 0 and 11 days. Instead
using of an articial supply of oxygen into the overlying
water during the deposition phase a continuous low
discharge of tap water was maintained to ensure a high
level of oxygen supply over the deposited sediment.
Chen et al. (2003) showed that the ow promotes the
oxygen transfer into the sediment phase and oxygen
utilisation rates can increase due to the formation of
biolms.
Tests in series A were performed in the rst-half of
May 2002, those in series B later in the summer period of
2002. During series A the temperature in the testing
room was approximately 18 1C; but for the test series B
the room air temperature ranged from 20 to 22 1C.
During all the erosion tests the sediment deposits was
subjected to the same type of ow regime. The discharge
was increased in a stepwise fashion and each discharge
was maintained constant for a sufcient length of time
to obtain uniform ow and steady suspended sediment
and bedload transport. Between each step the position
of the deposit surface was recorded in order to control
the quantity of the eroded sediment.
The bed shear stress were determined according to the
formula of Kleijwegt (1992). De Sutter et al. (1999b)
showed that this produces a better estimation for
circular pipes than the traditional side-wall elimination
methods of Einstein and Vanoni-Brooks.

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R. Banasiak et al. / Water Research 39 (2005) 52215231

5226

4.3. Experimental resultstransport of sediment

mixtures

4.4. Experimental resultstransport of deposited sewer

sediment
4.4.1. Sedimentation tests
In this section, the results of the observation of sewer
sediment deposition in sedimentation columns are
reported. These supplementary tests were performed
with the same sediment used in the series A and B
erosion tests. The purpose was to observe how the
structure and form of a sediment deposit can be
inuenced if biological processes are particularly active.
This close observation of the deposit structure during
the deposition phase could not be made in-situ in the
ume. For these tests transparent acrylic circular
columns were utilised. The columns were 95 mm in
diameter and 300 mm in height. They were lled with the
sediment stirred to obtain a quasi-uniform consistency.
The initial bulk density of the sediment, Cv, was
approximately 1230 kg/m3. The water content W was
170%. The initial sediment thickness was 100 mm for the
test using series A sediment, and 100 and 200 mm,
respectively for the sediments from series B. All the
sediments were covered with a 20 mm water layer. The
ambient temperature was around 1819 1C and 1922 1C
for test A and B series sediments, respectively. The level
of the surface of the sediment was recorded as a function
of time. The temporal variation of the sediment layer
thickness H related to the initial sediment thickness H0 is
presented in Fig. 4.
It is clearly seen that the sediment surface rises rapidly
within hours of the start of each test. This rapid increase

25
20

1.6
Test A (H0=10 cm)

15

1.5

Test B (H0=10 cm)

10

1.4

Test B (H0=20 cm)

H/H0 (-)

Bed load transport (g/m/s)

In this paper, bed load transport rate is used as a key

parameter to dene the erosional strength of in-pipe
sediment deposits. The relationships between bed load
transport rate and bed shear stress for the articial
sediment mixtures examined are shown in Fig. 3. These
are further compared with an extrapolated curve of
results for a mixture of sand and clay (clay content
20%) from tests performed by De Sutter et al. (2000) in
the same experimental facility. In addition, bedload
transport rate results from one of the tests using
sediment from Dendermonde, is shown here to relate
the overall mobility of the articial mixtures to that of
an actual sewer sediment deposit.
Examining the results for the tests with the sand/
olivestone mixture it can be seen that the erosion
patterns do change subtly in respect to the duration of
the deposit phase. The critical shear stress was about
0.5 N/m2 for a deposit of 0 days and for the two older
deposits it had risen to slightly higher values. The
underlying strength of the bed also appeared to have
become stronger, with the biggest increase in strength
noted within the rst 4 days. Comparison with later tests
using remoulded sewer sediment has shown that insewer sediment deposits, with a similar grain size
distribution to the articial sediments, appear to be
generally stronger. The rates of bed load for the
sandclayolivestone mixture and the sewer sediment
are found to be in much better agreement. This suggests
that the part of the grain size distribution containing
micron-sized particles may be able to strongly inuence
the transport of the larger granular particles.
The deposition time of either 4 or 10 days did not
appear to generate a signicant change in the mixed
sediment density, texture and cohesion. Hence, even if
mixtures that contain several types of sediment, such as
the sandclayolivestone mix, so that they reasonably

correspond with the physical properties of sewer

sediments, they may still be of limited suitability unless
they contain appropriate organic material and microbial
communities that can generate a level of biochemical
processes activity found in real sewer sediments. This
agrees with the work of Prochnov et al. (2000) who
stated that only particular bioactive biolms can be used
as a surrogate for organic sediment studies under
laboratory conditions.

5
0
0.0

0.5

1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0

Bed shear stress (N/m2)

3.5

4.0

20% olivestone - 0 d.

20% olivestone - 4 d.

20% olivestone - 10 d.

olivestone/clay - 4 d.

sewer sed. notdeposited

20% clay - De Sutter

Fig. 3. Bed load transport as a function of bed shear stress for

the investigated articial sediment mixtures.

1.3
1.2
1.1
1
0

48

96 144 192 240 288 336 384 432 480

Time elapsed (hours)

Fig. 4. Development of the relative sediment layer thickness as

a function of time.

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R. Banasiak et al. / Water Research 39 (2005) 52215231

in sample volume is striking and is believed to be related

to the aerobic biodegradation process activated by the
supply of oxygen to the sediment sample during its
handling and from the overlying water layer. Initially, as
a result of this bio-activity, lots of gas bubbles are
observed to develop causing the enhancement of the
sediment volume and a decrease of its bulk density. For
test A, the expansion reaches about 143% of the initial
sediment layer thickness after 4 days of deposition.
Given the more favourable conditions in the summer
period, i.e. higher ambient temperature, the microorganisms may be more active, which is reected in a
higher expansion rate. The 100 mm sediment layer in the
test using series B sediment expands to more than 150%
of the initial thickness after 1 day. Comparing the
evolution of sediment thickness in both columns of test
B with different initial thickness (H0 10 cm and
H0 20 cm), leads to the conclusion that the self weight
also affects the relative expansion. A remarkable result is
that the bulk density of the sediment decreases even to
values lower than 1000 kg/m3 at the maximum rise of the
sample, see Table 2. The material is probably prevented
from oating by the adhesion to the tube walls and
between particles.
After reaching the maximum expansion the sediment
starts to consolidate. This is presumed to coincide
with the transition from aerobic to anaerobic metabolism and takes place around 5090 h. During this phase
the gas bubbles were observed to release from the
sediment. The consolidation gradually slows down, after
20 days the height of the deposits was still 20% larger
than at the beginning. This indicates that even after long
deposition periods the structure and properties of the
sediment will not be the same as those for remoulded
samples. Indeed, when collecting the sediment from the
sedimentation reservoir the sampled material had a
texture with lots of enclosed gas bubbles, which were
partially released during the physical handling of the
sediment.
A similar sedimentation test with the mixture of sand
and olivestone also resulted in an increase of the
sediment thickness of about 10%. However, it was
believed that this increase was related more to the
mechanical expansion of the sediment due to the

Table 2
Bulk density for the deposited sewer sediment in the settling
columns for test B
Deposition time (h)

0
44
129

Bulk density r (kg/m3)

H0 10 cm

H0 20 cm

1232
946
995

1223
967
991

5227

swelling of the originally dry organic matter in water

rather than to biological processes. This also emphasises
the potential difference between the studied natural and
articial sediments.
4.4.2. Erosion of sewer deposits
The results from the tests in the settling columns
suggest that signicant changes can be expected in the
structure of the sewer sediment beds deposited in the
ume over different durations. To study the impact
these changes in deposit structure may have on
transport, a series of tests were conducted in the ume
using the collected in-sewer sediment. Seven tests were
conducted in which the duration of the deposition
period was varied between 0 and 11 days and the levels
of dissolved oxygen controlled. During the deposition
period activity from biological processes and related
mechanical changes could clearly be observed. There
was no clear evidence of biolm formation at the surface
of the sediment. This was due to the high aeration rate
and presumed due to the accelerated microbial growth,
which meant that exopolymer production was to be
rather low and the formation of slime, which could
create a strong surface binding layer was inhibited.
Furthermore, a number (a larger quantity in series B) of
worms (nematodes) were observed burrowing into the
sediment layer contributing to the reorganisation of the
sediment deposit structure. Due to microbial activity gas
bubbles were intensively generated and released from the
bed. As a consequence the thickness of the sediment
layer increased by about 25% of its original thickness.
Vollertsen and Hvitved-Jacobsen (2000) also examined a
freshly remoulded sewer sediment deposits incubated for
14 days and reported that the bulk volume increased by
2040% due to development of gas cavities. In their
study the gaseous products contained 14% of methane,
the rest was assumed to be nitrogen.
In this study, the sediment surface visually appeared
loose and irregular. Sediment aggregates resting on the
deposit surface were subjected to erosion even at low
ow rates present at the start of each test. The
mobilisation of this surface material caused a rst
ush effect in suspended sediment transport, illustrated
in Fig. 5. The rst foul ush was absent in the tests not
preceded by long deposit durations even at larger
discharge rates.
After the loose surface layer had been removed the
underlying more cohesive bed was eroded more steadily,
dependent on the applied ow shear stress. Changes in
the erosion strength of the deposited bed can therefore
be ascribed to changes in the supercial and the
underlying layer.
Figs. 6 and 7 present the bed load transport rates as a
function of bed shear stress along with tting curves. In
both tests series there is a noticeable decrease in critical
shear stress and an increase of transport rates at a given

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Suspended solids [g/l]

5228

10
9
duration 0 days
8
duration 3 days
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280
Time [s]

Bed load transport (g/m/s)

Fig. 5. Suspended transport rates recording for sediment beds

with a deposit phase duration of 0 days (tb 0.84 N/m2) and 3
days (tb 0.65 N/m2).

25
20
15

0 days
4 days
11days

10
5
0
0.0

0.5

1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0

Bed shear stress (N/m2)

3.5

4.0

Bed load transport (g/m/s)

Fig. 6. Bed load transport against bed shear stress for test series
A.

25
20
15
10

0 days
1 day
3 days
0 days (2)
1 day(2)

5
0
0.0

0.5

1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0

Bed shear stress (N/m2)

3.5

4.0

Fig. 7. Bed load transport against bed shear stress for test series
B.

bed shear stress for sediment beds whose deposit

durations lasted a number of days. The critical shear
stress for the freshly deposited beds is estimated at 1 N/
m2 while for sediment deposits, which were allowed to
remain in the ume for several days, the critical bed
shear stress drops to about 0.2 N/m2 for surcial layer
causing the rst foul ush, and about 0.5 N/m2 for

underlying deposit. This clearly demonstrates that the

ongoing processes weaken the bed and affect the erosion
patterns.
In particular, the formation of gas bubbles leads to a
looser sediment structure. These gas bubbles enclosed in
the sediment mass form local weak spots and cause
erosion of large patches of sediment, leaving small holes
in the bed surface. The eddies formed in these pits
locally increase shear stress at these locations and
erosion generally happens much faster. The resulting
aggregates break up into smaller ones and go into
suspension or roll over the bed surface as bed load. In
addition, it was observed that small gas bubbles were
adhering to these aggregates supporting the eroding lift
force. This is in accordance with the description of
erosion reported from laboratory experiments by Toorman (1999).
The differences would be much more pronounced if
the total transported mass (bed load and suspended
load) were expressed as a function of ow parameters.
However, under the non-equilibrium conditions in the
straight ume the suspended transport rate is not simply
a function of shear stress but depend on the stock of
particles to be suspended. For each ow rate, the
suspended mode of erosion decreases with time as the
amount of particles susceptible to suspension diminishes. Also, the combined mode of erosion and
transport (in the upstream and downstream section of
the sediment bed, respectively) makes it difcult to relate
the erosion rate expressed as a mass unit per area unit
(g/m2) to the ambient ow parameters.
However, as an indication it can be reported that in
the current tests the bed load contributed to about 40%
of total eroded material for the deposited sediment beds
with a 0 day consolidation period. In tests with longer
deposition durations the eroded sediment was more
inclined to move into suspension where 6080% of the
total load was found in suspended sediment. The
percentile contribution of suspended load decreased
with larger ows and was around 20% for the highest
ows. After the organic and ne material is washed out,
the bed surface composition coarsens and this protects
the underlying bed against erosion. This progressive
recession of the suspended load has also been observed
in eld studies (Ahyerre et al., 2000).
4.4.3. Aerobic fluidisation of sewer deposits
The sediment used in consecutive tests had different
water contents, see Table 3. However, it was seen that in
spite of lower water content it was found that the
consistency of the sediment became more and more
liquid. The material used for the rst test possessed quite
resistant texture, like a paste. For the next test, the
sediment was mixed in order to collect a homogenous
sample. This mixing caused the supply of a new portion
of air into the sediment and a rapid biological aerobic

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R. Banasiak et al. / Water Research 39 (2005) 52215231

5229

Table 3
Water content and volumetric concentration of the sewer sediment placed into the ume for consecutive tests

Water content W (%)

Weight concentration Ts (g/l)
a

0 day

1 day

3 days

0 day (2)

1 day (2)

170
456.6

163
472

162
475

148
507

137
537.1

Water content W dened as the ratio between weight of water and solid particles.

reaction was believed to occur. The aerobic microbial

activity subjected the material to hydrolysis and consequently uidisation. Hydrolysis is a process where
complex molecules are broken down into simpler
molecules for easy ingestion by the bacteria. This
process is driven by the enzymes secreted by the
microorganisms. Therefore, the samples used in the last
tests of the series B (test nos. 11and 12) had a more
liquid consistency than those used in test nos. 8 and 9.
Although the water content decreased, comparison of
the observed transport rates at a similar hydraulic
condition showed that the sediment erosion strength
cannot be successfully related explicitly to the water
content or the bulk density. To control this processes
other techniques such as the measurement of oxygen
utilisation rates to dene the biodegradability of the
organic matter, as proposed by Hvitved-Jacobsen et al.
(1998) may be necessary.

5. Discussion and conclusion

In this study, several aspects related to the erosion
processes of in-pipe deposits of sewer sediments are
studied. Particular focus has been on observing the
modications of the sediment bed by biochemical
processes in environments with plentiful supply of
dissolved oxygen and in temperatures between 18
and 22 1C.
Sedimentation tests were used to quantify the impact
of micro-organisms on the physical properties of
sediment deposits. Provided with favourable conditions,
i.e. high constant temperatures and a reliable oxygen
supply during the deposition period, the remoulded
sediment deposits had the opportunity to develop a
structure, which is closer to the natural state. It
appeared that weakening mechanisms due to aerobic
in a rst phase of the deposition period (CO2 release)
and anaerobic gas production in a later phase,
dominated the stabilising effect of physical consolidation for this kind of sediment. This aspect should receive
more attention in further studies on such biologically
active sediments.
The tests demonstrate also the signicance of the
sediment bed deposit environment in terms of erosion

resistance. Many ne-grained sediment deposits possess

a structure that plays a signicant role in the resistance
to erosion. During sediment sampling and sample
handling this delicate structure is exposed to damage,
which consequently may lead to misleading results. In
the studied cases sediment tested with a deposit duration
of a day showed much higher erosion resistance
compared to a bed, which had been deposited for a
number of days and in which biological processes would
have had sufcient time to potentially affect the deposit
structural development.
The study conrmed that the stratication of a
sediment bed can originate from biological processes.
It appears that two layers can develop with different
physical properties and a different capability to withstand erosion. The development mode and the strength
of the surface layer depends on the environmental
conditions, and on the micro- and macrobiological
community. The oxygen level appears to be a major
determinant for the development of the supercial
deposit layer. Whereas in the sedimentation columns
the sediment bed was covered by a thin layer of oxygendepleted water the formation of a typical biolm
as reported in other studies (Prochnov et al., 2000;
Lau and Droppo, 2000; Vollertsen and HvitvedJacobsen, 2000) was observed. In the ume which
contained a consistent oxygen-rich environment during
deposition, the formation of a loose, weak surface layer
has been observed. The parameters inuencing the
conditioning of these two different effects on the
surcial sediment layer development need to be
researched in more detail. There is a signicant potential
role for the biological processes in managing cohesive
sediment deposits particularly in terms of the rst ush
phenomena. Modelling such deposits as stratied system
seems to be the most appropriate approach for
prediction of erosion of such biologically active negrained sediment beds.
Sewer sediments, similarly to sediments in rivers and
lakes, are composed of cohesive materials like clay and
silt, a non-cohesive sand fraction and organic materials
like organisms, extracellular substances and detritus. An
articial test sediment should contain all such materials
if it is to represent the most important properties of
these ne-grained deposits (Spork et al., 1997). In earlier

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R. Banasiak et al. / Water Research 39 (2005) 52215231

studies surrogate materials to simulate the cohesive

strength of natural sediments were utilised. A replacement for the silt and clay fraction could be successfully
realised by the use of Kaolinite clay. More difcult to
achieve is the provision of a suitable surrogate for the
organic sediments and microbiological communities
found in natural sediment mixes. This was shown by
the comparison of the depositional behaviour of a
natural sediment with a mixture of sand and olivestone,
in which crushed olivestone was used as an organic
replacement.
It can be concluded that sewer sediment erosion and
transport is a very complex process with a number of
physical, chemical and biological factors dynamically
linked. Better process description is necessary and may
be achieved based on further comprehensive and well
controlled and designed studies.

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