Deposited sediment settlement and consolidation mechanisms

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.

Settlement prediction model of slurry suspension based on sedimentation rate attenuation

This paper introduces a slurry suspension settlement prediction model for cohesive sediment in a still water environment. With no sediment input and a still water environment condition, control forces between settling particles are significantly different in the process of sedimentation rate attenuation, and the settlement process includes the free sedimentation stage, the log-linear attenuation stage, and the stable consolidation stage according to sedimentation rate attenuation. Settlement equations for sedimentation height and time were established based on sedimentation rate attenuation properties of different sedimentation stages. Finally, a slurry suspension settlement prediction model based on slurry parameters was set up with a foundation being that the model parameters were determined by the basic parameters of slurry. The results of the settlement prediction model show good agreement with those of the settlement column experiment and reflect the main characteristics of cohesive sediment. The model can be applied to the prediction of cohesive soil settlement in still water environments.