Sustainable usage of dredged clay materials as land reclamation fills
Overall objectives and research plan
Millions of cubic metres of dredged materials are removed from river and sea beds every year in dredging projects. It is common to dump a significant portion of the dredged spoils into the sea which can result in serious environmental problems such as deterioration of water quality, damage to aquatic habitats, disruption of ecosystems and dispersion of fine clay particles in seawater.It is proposed to use dredged clays as land reclamation fill, which will lead to a substantial reduction in or even eliminate the need for dumping dredged clays into offshore dumping locations. The stabilized dredged clays have great potential if their geotechnical characteristics are adequately understood.
- Progress: Some trial runs were carried out using lime as an additive in stabilising the dredged clays. It is proposed to design and fabricate a slurry consolidometer to sediment the dredged clays form very high water content, thus replicating the process at the containment paddocks. It is also proposed to design and fabricate an oedometer with pore pressure measurement facilities. Samples have been collected from the thick bed of Holocene clays that underlie the dredged clays in the paddocks, and consolidation and shear strength tests have been carried out.
- PhD Student: Ms. Dhanya Ganesalingam, a graduate with First Class Honours from University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, has joined the project as an APAI in 2009.
Funding sources
ARC Linkage Project No. LP 0989164 (2009-2012)
Contact
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A/Prof. Arul Arulrajah
Associate Professor - Geotechnical
Phone: +61 3 9214 5741
E-Mail: aarulrajah@swin.edu.au
Chief Investigators
- A/Prof. N. Sivakugan (James Cook University)
- A/P Arul Arulrajah (Swinburne University of Technology)
Partner Investigators
