A NONLINEAR MODEL FOR THE FLUIDIZATION OF MARINE MUD BY WAVES

Rheological properties of marine mud are incorporated into a seawave- seabed interaction model. The model assumes that the viscoelastic prop erties of the mud are dependent on the wave-induced strains inside the stratified bed, and it solves for the depth of fluidization in the be d as a function of the imposed wave height. Below the fluidized layer the mud is assumed to behave elastically with a slow depth stratificat ion. In the fluidized layer the behavior is assumed to be viscoelastic with a complex kinematic viscosity coefficient which is also a functi on of the imposed wave height.