Sedimentation and Consolidation of cohesive and non-cohesive soils formed under turbulent flows

Abstract

Settling and consolidation of suspended clay particles are significant issue in many fields such as geotechnical engineering, coastal and hydraulic engineering, and environmental engineering. A comprehensive literature review was conducted on the settling, consolidation and erosion of mixed soil material (cohesive and non-cohesive). Soil beds formed by sedimentation process of loose particles will be either show a segregated or homogeneous in structure, depending on the depositional environment. These sediments initially undergo self-weight consolidation and may be eroded under high flow rate. A number of studies have recently investigated the characteristic of consolidated clay bed in stagnant water. Hence, consolidation parameters were determined using a well-known vertical settling column consolidation test setup. However, limited research studies are available for deposition and consolidation of a mixture of sediment (clay, silt and sand) under flow conditions which are more representative of what happens in nature. A long flume and pump were used to create different turbulent conditions and simulate the natural process... The results for deposition and consolidation of different mixtures under stagnant and turbulence conditions were analyzed and compered in term of compressibility, permeability as well as shear strength. The results of this experimental research program indicated that the flow rate, initial concentration, height of settling and composition of sediment are all important factors that could affect the final bed dry unit weight. Two non-intrusive techniques were applied for measuring the dry unit weight at settling and consolidation stages. Impact echo technique has never been applied to measure the dry unit weight of self-weight consolidation along the vertical stratification of cohesive and non-cohesive particles. Also, a novel conductance sensor has been developed to improve the efficiency of this technique. The limitations of using these techniques will be highlighted in this study.