Long-term settlement prediction for wastewater biosolids in road embankments

Abstract

An innovative research study was undertaken to characterize the settlement characteristics of aged wastewater biosolids to facilitate its long-term settlement prediction when used as fill material in road embankment applications. Settlement can be sub-divided into compression due to consolidation and deformation attributed to biodegradation. Results of an extensive geotechnical laboratory evaluation including compaction characteristics, shear strength parameters, coefficient of consolidation, compression index, swell index and coefficient of secondary consolidation were used to predict the consolidation settlement of biosolids in road embankments. Other relevant parameters for biodegradation..