Deposited sediment settlement and consolidation mechanisms

Abstract

In order to study deposited sediment settlement and consolidation mechanisms, sediment settlement experiments were conducted using a settlement column. Based on the experimental results, sediment settlement stage definition, excessive pore pressure (EPP) dissipation, and consolidation constitutive equations are discussed. Three stages, including the free settlement, hindered settlement, and self-weight consolidation settlement stages, are defined. The results of this study show that sediment settlement is mainly affected by the initial sediment concentration and initial settlement height, and the interface settlement rate is linearly attenuated with time on bilogarithmic scales during the hindered settlement and self-weight consolidation settlement stages. Moreover, the deposited sediment layer in the self-weight consolidation settlement stage experiences large strains, and the settlement amount in this stage is about 32% to 59% of the initial height of deposited sediment. EPP is nonlinearly distributed in the settlement direction, and consolidation settlement is faster than EPP dissipation in the self-weight consolidation settlement stage. Consolidation constitutive equations for the hydraulic conductivity and effective stress, applicable to large-strain consolidation calculation, were also determined and fitted in the power function form.