Engineering Behavior of Water Treatment Sludge

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Abstract
The engineering behavior of one iron and two alum coagulant water‐treatment plant sludges was investigated. The behavior studied included plasticity characteristics, moisture‐density relation, compressibility, and shear strength. Additionally, a hypothetical disposal landfill was analyzed and discussed to demonstrate possible applications of the developed data base. The test results indicate that the sludges are extremely plastic and highly compressible. The drained shear strength is high, but the undrained strength is very low. They are also highly sensitive and thixotropic. Compared with the iron sludge, the alum sludges are more plastic and compressible, and have higher undrained shear strength at the same solids content. The moisture‐density relation of the iron sludge exhibits the typical one‐hump shape, whereas that of the alum sludge shows no peak formation. The results of landfill analysis indicate that the required minimum solids content for maintaining a desired slope is higher for the iron slud...