The effect of seasonal water temperature on sedimentation characteristics of dredged clay

계절별 수온에 따른 점토의 침강압밀 특성 연구

The sedimentation rate of particles in a suspension is a function of particle size, initial slurry water content and salinity. Many researches conducted on the behavior of dredged soils have centered on such factors. However, there have been few attempts to assess another important influence factor of seasonal water temperature on designing the placement of dredged materials. In this paper, the effect of seasonal water temperature on sedimentation characteristics of dredged clay was investigated with consideration of three different water temperatures, that are $5^{\circ}C$, $15^{\circ}C$, $35^{\circ}C$, which represent critical water temperatures in winter, spring or fall, and summer, respectively. A series of experimental results reveal that the sedimentation rates for the water temperature of $15^{\circ}C$ and $35^{\circ}C$ are very similar each other, but that of $5^{\circ}C$ that represents a winter season leads to a considerably delayed sedimentation compared to the others. This may be attributable to the retardation of ion-leaching from clay particles at low water temperature.