Author(s): Giulia Bonanno; Giovanni Passalacqua; Claudio Iuppa; Carla Faraci
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: Incipient motion; Plastic pollution; Wave motion
Abstract: Plastic debris is increasingly found on our coasts and seabeds. To address this problem, it is necessary to study the fate of plastic debris, starting from the study of the forcing which causes the motion of non-buoyant plastic debris at the bottom. In this work, nine plastic samples were tested under wave motion into a controlled laboratory environment, for four different beds. Incipient motion was detected as the first movement of 50% of plastic samples. The results from this experimental campaign were compared to the Shields curve (1936) and a good fit of the data is found. The incipient motion was found to be dependent on the hydrodynamic characteristics, the geometric samples characteristics and the grain size of the bottom.
Year: 2024