Engineered Waste Materials as Amendments to Prevent Erosion and to Stabilize Contaminated Sites

Erosion is an important consideration in remediation strategies of slopes at contaminated sites such as mine tailings. Pelletized waste materials offer the dual advantages of waste utilization and soil erosion prevention at such sites. These materials could be designed to reduce stormwater runoff by optimizing their infiltration capacities, to trap the eroded soil particles and pollutants before they get to the nearby lakes and streams, and store sufficient moisture for supporting vegetation. In this paper, we present the results of our study that focused on flow, erosion, and filtration through an erosion control blanket built with three different particle size ranges of pelletized waste materials. The finest gradation is used on the upper portion of the slope, and the medium and coarse gradations are used in the lower portions to act as graded filters for the upper portion. The density, gradation, and erodibility properties of the waste materials are used for calculating the flow, internal erosion, filtration, and moisture retention in the erosion control blanket. The model is intended to aid in the engineering design of erosion-resistant blankets on slopes. It optimizes the physicochemical and hydraulic characteristics of the pelletized waste materials to fulfill diverse functions of an erosion blanket, viz., erosion resistance, runoff inhibition, moisture retention to support vegetation, and controlled infiltration.