Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2014
Capstone Advisor
Shobha K. Bhatia, Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor
Honors Reader
Mahmoud Khachan
Capstone Major
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Capstone College
Engineering and Computer Science
Audio/Visual Component
no
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Sciences and Engineering
Subject Categories
Civil and Environmental Engineering | Civil Engineering
Abstract
Each year, more than 250 million cubic yards of sediment need to be dredged from U.S. ports, harbors and waterways to maintain navigability. This is accomplished by dredging, the process of excavating submerged sediment by means of scooping or suction. Dredged sediments have low solids content, typically between 10% and 20% for hydraulic dredging. Geotextile tubes are one of many methods utilized to dewater these sediments, which is a process of removing water from sediment that contains low percent solids. Understanding the engineering behavior of slurries inside geotextile tubes is critical for the evaluation of the properties of the dewatered sediments. This study explores the effect of particle shape and size of fine sediments such as silt, subrounded sand and spherical glass beads to assess their particle network compressibility and compressive strength behaviors, which will enable the determination of the ultimate solids content that these sediments can obtain in a geotextile tube environment. Sediments that are more spherical have shown to achieve higher initial and final solids contents. Sediments that are more spherical also achieve their maximum packing structure at lower compressive forces compared to sediments that are less spherical. Less spherical sediments have shown to rearrange gradually with each successive compressive force to achieve the optimal packing structure, representative of the continuous reorientation of the particle network.
Recommended Citation
Lafata, Louis, "Effect of Particle Shape and Size on Compressibility Behavior of Dredged Sediment in a Geotextile Tube Dewatering Application" (2014). Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All. 757.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/757
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
