Three Stages of Consolidation Dewatering of Sludges

Abstract

This work investigates the constant-pressure consolidation characteristics of three different sludge samples, with particular emphasis on the tertiary consolidation stage. The refined Terzaghi-Voigt rheological model is applied to interpret the data and, in doing so, to evaluate the model parameters. Experimental results indicate that the tertiary consolidation stage is commonly found in sludge that contains a large amount of bound water. In addition, it was found that consolidation pressure and polymer conditioning would markedly affect the moisture distribution. Results obtained from conventional analysis are compared with those of the refined model.