Deposition of dredged sediment after ocean dumping

The deposition process of dredged sediment after ocean dumping is explored in this study by employing numerical simulation. During the settling process, the dumped sediment entrains water and generates waste clouds. Transport of waste clouds in open water is classified into two regimes, i.e., short-term fate and long-term fate subsequently, according to the simulation period. In the stage of the short-term fate, water depth at the dump site is the dominant factor for initial bed deposition, and the effect of density stratification is negligible except for the deep dump site. During the long-term fate, the deposited pattern of the dredged sediment on the sea floor strongly depends on the distribution of ambient currents. Since the oceanic currents in both dump sites are mainly flowing either southerly or northerly, two distinct peaks appear in the contour plots of deposition thickness.