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Strength behavior of dredged mud slurry treated jointly by cement, flocculant and vacuum preloading

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Abstract

Application of the flocculation–solidification combined method (FSCM) is a rational option for treatment and recycling of dredged mud slurry at extra high water content (EHW-MS). However, FSCM tends to show some limitations when the treated EHW-MS is recycled as filling material with high requirement on mechanical properties. Via introducing the vacuum preloading (VP) and fiber reinforcement (FR) into FSCM, two novel procedures (i.e., VP-FSCM and VP-FR-FSCM) are newly developed in this study for more efficient treatment and recycling of EHW-MS. Five groups of laboratory experiments are conducted to verify the superiority of VP-FSCM and VP-FR-FSCM over FSCM in EHW-MS treatment and to characterize the effect of some key factors on the treatment efficiency of VP-FSCM and VP-FR-FSCM. The fundamental mechanisms of VP-FSCM and VP-FR-FSCM are also discussed based on the X-ray diffraction spectrums and the scanning electron microscope images. The results indicate that VP-FSCM and VP-FR-FSCM show significant superiority over FSCM in treatment and recycling of EHW-MS, and the strength of VP-FSCM or VP-FR-FSCM treated EHW-MS is at least 2.36 times larger than that of FSCM treated EHW-MS.

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Abbreviations

EHW-MS:

Mud slurry at extra high water content

FSCM:

Flocculation–solidification combined method

PCSM:

Pure cement solidification method

VP:

Vacuum preloading

FR:

Fiber reinforcement

VP-PCSM:

VP- “cement solidification” combined method

VP-FSCM:

VP-flocculation–solidification combined method

VP-FR-FSCM:

VP-FR-flocculation–solidification combined method

OPC:

Ordinary Portland cement

CH:

High liquid limit clay

PAM:

Polyacrylamide

SSM:

Self-sealing method

MSM:

Membrane-sealing method

XRD:

X-ray diffraction

SEM:

Scanning electron microscope

VST:

Vane shear test

ODT:

Oven-dry test

CSH:

Calcium silicate hydrates

CAH:

Calcium aluminate hydrates

CASH:

Calcium aluminate silicate hydrates

t 1–t 4 :

Target curing ages from short time to long time

t :

Curing age

s u :

Undrained shear strength

w ac :

After-curing water content, defined as the mass ratio of water to the solid particles (including unhydrated cement particles and cementitious products) at a target time after mixing

Δw ac :

Reduction extent of wac

w ei :

Equivalent initial water content, defined as the mass ratio of total water (including water in PAM solution) to dry soil particles (not including cement particles) in the mixture

w f :

Fiber dosage, defined as the mass ratio of fiber to dry soil particles

C :

Cement content, defined as the mass ratio of cement to dry soil particles

F :

Flocculant dosage, defined as the mass ratio of dry PAM powder to dry soil particles in the mixture

P vp :

Vacuum pressure, defined as pressure value of vacuum pump

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Acknowledgements

This study has been supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2016YFC0800200), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (No. 51978303, 51678266), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, HUST (No. 2018KFYYXJJ006). The financial support is gratefully acknowledged. Special thanks also go to the Analytical and Testing Centre at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) for providing XRD and SEM apparatuses.

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  1. Institute of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Rong-Jun Zhang, Yao-Lin Zheng, Chao-Qiang Dong & Jun-Jie Zheng

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Correspondence to Chao-Qiang Dong.

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Zhang, RJ., Zheng, YL., Dong, CQ. et al. Strength behavior of dredged mud slurry treated jointly by cement, flocculant and vacuum preloading. Acta Geotech. 17, 2581–2596 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-021-01346-y

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