Full scale mine burial experiment and comparison with models

Buried sea mine remains a threat still unsolved in spite of new sonar development. Reliable predictions of where and under which conditions mines will bury are not yet available. Field experiments are required for a better understanding of the burial processes. This paper reports on a field experiment carried out between January and April 2004 in the Bay of Brest (France) in cooperation between French and German institutions on two sites. The conditions at the two sites differed through the mean water depths and the hydrodynamics conditions achieved. At Rascas, the sea bed is almost uniquely submitted to tidal and river current flows. Very limited mine burial was observed. The dynamics at the second site is driven by tides and ocean waves. A one week long storm and several swell events were experienced. They resulted in significant mine burial. The first part of the paper reports on the joined analysis of mine burial data, sediment data, sea bed observations and hydrodynamics measurements. In a second part, comparison is made between burial and the predictions of mine burial using various models.