Consolidation of Sludge Dewatered in Geotextile Tubes under Combined Fill and Vacuum Preloading
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 148, Issue 6
Abstract
Recently, permeable geotextile tubes in conjunction with prefabricated horizontal drains (PHDs) have become increasingly popular for dewatering high water content slurries or sludge. However, how to analyze the consolidation process of the sludge in the geotextile tube so as to provide a proper design and prediction becomes a technical challenge. In this paper, we have proposed a two-dimensional plain-strain consolidation model for sludge consolidation in a geotextile tube under combined fill and vacuum preloading. A semi-analytical solution was obtained and validated through experimental observations. A salient finding of this study is the identification of a critical condition at which the optimum consolidation efficiency is achieved. Consolidation efficiency decreases gradually beyond this critical condition, which arrives later as the PHD pave rate and element height to width ratio increase. Furthermore, this analytical method clearly shows how preloading affects the dewatering process and the effect of fill surcharge is more pronounced than that of vacuum preloading of the same magnitude, owing to the vacuum attenuation and leakage.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
The work described in this paper was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52078464, 51620105008, and 51978533). The authors are very grateful for the above supports.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 148 • Issue 6 • June 2022
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© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 4, 2021
Accepted: Jan 20, 2022
Published online: Mar 22, 2022
Published in print: Jun 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Aug 22, 2022
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Cited by
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