Study of the Shear Strength of Sediments in Main Sedimentation Stages

The shear strength properties of sediments are relevant to many practical problems, including those related to predicting the bearing capacity of the man-made crust lying over dredged disposal sites and those associated with estimating the erosion resistance and the bearing capacity of sediments. In this study, an experimental apparatus and method is developed for sedimentation. This apparatus consists of a settling column, pore measurement apparatus, shear vane apparatus, and multilayer extraction sampling apparatus. The change regulation of interface height, density, excess pore pressure, peak undrained shear strength, residual undrained shear strength, and sensitivity varies before and after the excess pore pressure dissipates to zero in the self-weight consolidation stage. The higher the water content, the greater the particle segregation degree. Particles are mainly segregated in the settling stage, and they are not segregated further in the self-weight consolidation stage. Before excess pore pressure dissipates to zero in the self-weight consolidation stage, shear strength is related to water content, effective stress, and the formed structure of sediments. After excess pore pressure dissipates to zero, peak undrained shear strength is mainly associated with the structure (thixotropy) of sediments. Residual undrained shear strength increases because of the slight decrease in water content. The mechanisms of thixotropy can be expressed as the increase in the original and curing cohesions of sediments with time as determined from microscopic aspects.