抄録
The consolidation characteristics of soft sediment dredges from Newark bay area, New Jersey, is investigated through seepage induced consolidation test device. In this paper the seepage induced consolidation test device was constructed and used to evaluate compressibility and permeability behavior of fine, low density sediments. Conventional consolidation tests usually involve restrictive assumptions on the amount of strain, hydraulic conductivity and coefficient of consolidation which makes them impractical dealing with soft sediments at low stress levels. The soft nature of dredged material and mine tailings hinders using conventional consolidometers for testing purposes. It is difficult to test the compressibility and permeability of these types of sediments at low effective stresses. Therefore a consolidation cell, based on seepage force was constructed based on seepage induced consolidation tester (SICT) at University of Colorado at Boulder and the consolidation characteristics of soft sediments dredged from seabed is investigated. Results of this research program showed that this method of testing is applicable to the soft sediment consolidation testing and provides reliable and repeatable results.
