ABSTRACT: A hydraulic reclaimed sludge of 19m long, 15m wide and 5.8m deep was treatedusing electro-osmosis technique. A novel Electrokinetic Geosynthetics (EKG) and automated electric power source was developed for the electro-osmotic consolidation. It took only 36 days to reduce water content from 62% to 36% and it would take 3 years for preloading consolidation to achieve the same effect. After the treatment, bearing capacity of the fluid-like sludge was increased to 70kPa. Besides EKG materials, design of electro-osmosis scheme is the key issue for the success of electro-osmotic consolidation. Issues of energy consumption and cost and challenges in large scale applications are discussed after presenting experience with the EKG.
Keywords: Electro-osmosis; EKG; consolidation; reclamation
Case Study on Hydraulic Reclaimed Sludge Consolidation Using Electrokinetic Geosynthetics