Fluid mechanics lies at the heart of many of the physical processes associated with the nascent deep-sea mining industry. The evolution and fate of sediment plumes that would be produced by seabed mining activities, which are central to the assessment of the environmental impact, are entirely determined by transport processes. These processes, which include advection, turbulent mixing, buoyancy, differential particle settling, and flocculation, operate at a multitude of spatiotemporal scales. A combination of historical and recent efforts that combine theory, numerical modeling, laboratory experiments, and field trials has yielded significant progress, including assessing the role of environmental and operational parameters in setting the extent of sediment plumes, but more fundamental and applied fluid mechanics research is needed before models can accurately predict commercial-scale scenarios. Furthermore, fluid mechanics underpins the design and operation of proposed mining technologies, for which there are currently no established best practices.

中文翻译：

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深海采矿的流体力学

流体力学是与新兴深海采矿业相关的许多物理过程的核心。海底采矿活动产生的沉积物羽流的演变和命运是环境影响评估的核心，完全取决于运输过程。这些过程包括平流、湍流混合、浮力、差异颗粒沉降和絮凝，在多种时空尺度上运行。历史和近期的努力结合了理论、数值模拟、实验室实验和现场试验，取得了重大进展，包括评估环境和操作参数在设定沉积物羽流范围方面的作用，但更基础和应用的流体力学研究在模型能够准确预测商业规模的场景之前需要进行。此外，流体力学支撑着拟议采矿技术的设计和操作，但目前尚无既定的最佳实践。