Data for Synthetic EPS Restore the Reduced Erosion Resistance and Yield Stress of Bentonite Clay at Seawater Salinity

This dataset presents raw videos, image sequences, and rheological measurements collected to investigate the effect of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), represented by xanthan gum (XG), on the erosion and rheological behavior of bentonite clay at 35 ppt salinity. The mixtures were prepared at five EPS concentrations (0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 wt% of total mixture). Each sample had a total mass of 2500 g and consisted of 20 wt% solids (bentonite clay and EPS) and 80 wt% 35 ppt saline water.

There are three replicates for each experiment, giving:
- 15 flume erosion tests (about 30 minutes after sample preparation)
- 15 flow sweep tests (about 4 hours after sample preparation)
- 15 amplitude sweep tests (about 4 hours after sample preparation)

Video data for each flume experiment include side-view and top-view and/or angled-view recordings for all runs. Cameras were synchronized by briefly turning the flume room lights off and on at the start of each test. Erosion events were identified from the top and angled views, while water depth was measured from the corresponding side-view frames. Using the measured water depth at the time of erosion, the critical shear stress was calculated by the slope method.

The flume data document erosion events. The rheological data include flow sweep and oscillatory amplitude sweep measurements that provide information on viscosity, shear-thinning behavior, yield stress, flow-point stress, and viscoelastic response of the mixtures.