Consolidation of cement-treated sewage sludge using vertical drains

The disposal of sewage sludge and other waste materials has become a problem in many cities around the world. A study on the use of sewage sludge and other waste materials for land reclamation has been conducted. One of the methods studied is to dispose of the sludge after it has been mixed with binders or other waste materials and then to consolidate the mixture on site using surcharge and prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs). To study the consolidation behaviour of the sludge-binder mixtures around PVDs, model tests using a fully instrumented consolidation tank were conducted. Some of the test results are presented in this paper. The study shows that PVDs are effective in consolidating the sludge and binder mixtures, provided that the PVDs used can sustain large bending and resist corrosion by the chemicals in the sludge.