Shear induced remobilization of buried synthetic microfibers
Mirco Mancini, Jordi Colomer, Luca Solari, Teresa Serra
Abstract
Microplastics are known to accumulate in sediment beds of aquatic environments where they can be buried. Once buried they can remobilize due to high energetic events, entering the water column again. Here, turbulence induced by an oscillating grid device was used to investigate the remobilization of microfibers (MF) buried into the sediment bed. Four different types of plastic fibers commonly used for several industrial applications (PET, PP, PA and LDPE) and two types of soils (cohesive and non-cohesive) were investigated. Particles were in depth characterized via 3D reconstruction to estimate important parameters like the Corey shape factor and the settling velocity. Experimental runs explored a wide range of shear stresses. Measurements were taken at different time steps (between 15 min and 240 min from the start of each run). The results have shown that the remobilization of MFs is directly proportional to the value of the shear rate and the duration of the disturbance. Also, buoyant MFs were found more prone to remobilize respect to the denser ones. Drawing from experimental observations of the key parameters affecting MF remobilization, a non-dimensional predictive model was developed. A comparison with previous studies was performed to validate the model in order to predict MF remobilization in aquatic environments. • Microfibers (MF) buried in sediment beds are mobilized by shear-induced turbulence. • The concentration of mobilized MF increased with the shear rate. • MF remobilization was determined by shear, vertical velocity and bed type. • Resuspended MF concentration increased with the fiber-to-sediment diameter ratio. • MFs tended to stratify in the middle of the water column at steady state.