Geosynthetics are used in conjunction with soil/particulate materials to serve various functions like reinforcement, drainage, filtration and containment. The shear behavior of soil-geosynthetic interfaces hugely depends upon on the morphological properties of particulate materials and surface characteristics of geosynthetics. However, many researchers have ignored the effects of morphology, owing to the difficulty in finding the morphological characteristics of sand particles. Few of them used visual, manual and imaged based quantifications, which are not very effective. Also, the effects of particle size and morphology are often combined and the individual effect of these parameters cannot be easily separated. In addition to this, there are very few studies which have given importance to quantitative understanding of surface features/roughness of geosynthetics and almost all of them are limited to 2D surface measurements. The objective of this thesis is to understand the interface shear mechanisms of sand-geosynthetic systems through modified large interface direct shear tests coupled with morphological characterization of sands using advanced image based and optical techniques and surface topographical analysis of geosynthetics using 3D interferometry. The individual effects of particle size and morphology on interface shear mechanism are investigated by carefully selecting the sands having specific size fractions and different morphological characteristics. A new computational method based on image analysis is proposed in this study to quantify the morphology of sands (roundness, sphericity and roughness) more accurately by writing several algorithms and implementing them in MATLAB. The roundness and sphericity of sand particles in this method are quantified as per Wadell (1932) and Krumbein and Sloss (1963) respectively and the root mean square roughness is used as a measure of surface roughness. Out of total four sands, namely coarse sand (CS), medium sand (MS), fine sand (FS) and angular coarse sand (ACS) used in this study, CS, MS and FS have similar morphology and different particle sizes, whereas CS and ACS have same size and dissimilar morphology. The effects of size and morphology of sand particles on the interface shear behavior are examined through direct shear tests on dilative and non-dilative interfaces. After examining the boundary effects on deformation patterns analyzed using shear bands in conventional, fixed box and symmetric interface direct shear tests, symmetric interface direct shear test is observed to show uniformity in stresses and deformations across the shear box and hence the same is adopted in this thesis. Test results revealed that the peak interface friction and dilation angles in case of dilative interfaces are hugely dependent upon the interlocking between the sand particles and the asperities of geosynthetic material, which in turn depend on the relative size of sand particles and asperities. Highest interface shear strength is observed when the asperity size of the geosynthetic material matches with the mean particle size of sand, which is also manifested in terms of highest shear band thickness. Direct shear tests on non-dilative interfaces (sand-smooth geomembrane) revealed that interface friction angle depends on the number of effective contacts rather than the particle size. Morphology of sands is found to have major influence on the interface shear strength among all the parameters investigated. Results from interface shear tests are examined in the light of topographical analysis of sand particles and shear induced surface changes in geomembrane. Possible shearing mechanisms at the interface and the influence of particle size, morphology and normal stress on sliding or plowing are brought out from 3D surface roughness measurements using 3D optical profilometer. The stress-shear displacement response of sand-geomembrane interfaces are correlated to the surface changes on sheared geomembranes through visual observations and roughness quantifications. Medium sand used in this study could make more number of effective contacts with deeper grooves, resulting in highest interface friction. The number of grooves are less in case of coarse sand and the depth of grooves is less in case of fine sand, resulting in lesser interface friction for these two sands compared to medium sand, supporting the results of interface shear tests.

The standard ASTM C672 de-icer salt scaling resistance test has been found to be overly aggressive to concretes containing slag cement. It was compared to the newly proposed ASTM WK9367 method, based on the Quebec BNQ test, as well as several modifications, including use of an accelerated curing regime developed in Virginia (VADOT). Sixteen concrete mixtures were studied using high-alkali cement, low-alkali cement, grade 100 slag and grade 120 slag with slag contents of 0%, 20%, 35% and 50%. Vinsol resin air-entraining admixture was compared to Micro Air®. Reducing the water cement ratio from 0.42 to 0.38 had the biggest impact on improving scaling resistance of slag concretes. In general, increased slag contents increased scaling regardless of the test method used. The Micro Air® admixture provided a lower air void actor and higher hardened air content compared to Vinsol resin.

The standard ASTM C672 de-icer salt scaling resistance test has been found to be overly aggressive to concretes containing slag cement. It was compared to the newly proposed ASTM WK9367 method, based on the Quebec BNQ test, as well as several modifications, including use of an accelerated curing regime developed in Virginia (VADOT). Sixteen concrete mixtures were studied using high-alkali cement, low-alkali cement, grade 100 slag and grade 120 slag with slag contents of 0%, 20%, 35% and 50%. Vinsol resin air-entraining admixture was compared to Micro Air®. Reducing the water cement ratio from 0.42 to 0.38 had the biggest impact on improving scaling resistance of slag concretes. In general, increased slag contents increased scaling regardless of the test method used. The Micro Air® admixture provided a lower air void actor and higher hardened air content compared to Vinsol resin.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:00:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3585.pdf: 4834479 bytes, checksum: 5a0924e0311d45a52820620dbafa4f6a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-03-23 / Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais / Most of Water Treatment Plant (WTP) for public supply in Brazil use surface water as source and conventional complete cycle as treatment system. In this type of treatment wastewater are restrained/generated which vary mainly according to the type and amount of chemical added and the characteristics of the water resource. This wastewater is found mainly in clarifiers (sludge) and backwash water filter (BWF) from WTP. Unfortunately, most of Brazilian WTP launches its waste directly into water resources, violating Brazilian Law 9605 published in 1998. There are mechanical and natural technologies for water removal from wastewater restrained during the treatment. Once known that wastewater from WTP has fluid characteristic, some technologies to remove its water have been developed. A natural one is the drainage bed, developed and proposed by Cordeiro (2001). The drainage bed has basically two stages: drainage and evaporation. This dissertation presents results of a study, whose centre objective was to achieve improvements in water sludge removal restrained in clarifiers by the use of plastic cover (evaporation stage). Results of effective tests in prototypes located in Sao Carlos WTP (Sao Paulo State) with plastic cover have showed that this roof (commercial reference PVC 0.30 milimeters) uses has accelerated the evaporation process, and has protected sludge from rain. The height of the roof that presented the best result was 0.20 meters in relation to the board of prototype, realizing to obtain a sludge 56% dryer than in tests without the roof. Preliminary tests in laboratory scale generated a promising scenario for the use of cationic polymer in large scale doubling the efficiency of the initial drainage of sludge. However, other laboratory tests with different characteristics of geotextile blanket only confirmed the superiority of using woven blanket type with surface density of 600 g/m² (which had already been used in other studies), compared to the others, in reference to obtain better efficiency at the initial drainage of water present in raw sludge. / A maior parte das Estações de Tratamento de Água (ETAs) para abastecimento existente no Brasil se utiliza de captação de águas superficiais e sistema de tratamento de ciclo completo convencional. Neste tratamento são retidos/gerados resíduos que variam principalmente segundo o tipo e quantidade de produto químico adicionado e as características do manancial de captação. Estes resíduos são encontrados principalmente nos decantadores (lodo) e na água de lavagem dos filtros (ALF) das ETAs. Infelizmente, a maioria das ETAs brasileiras lança seus resíduos diretamente em corpos d água, infringindo disposições da Lei 9.605/98. Existem tecnologias mecanizadas e naturais para remoção de água dos resíduos retidos no tratamento. Uma vez que possuem característica fluida, foram desenvolvidas algumas tecnologias para remoção de suas águas. Uma tecnologia natural para remoção de águas de resíduos de ETAs é o leito de drenagem, desenvolvido e proposto por Cordeiro (2001). O leito de drenagem possui basicamente duas etapas envolvidas: drenagem e evaporação. Esta pesquisa apresenta resultados de um estudo, cujo objetivo central foi alcançar melhorias na remoção da água de lodo retido nos decantadores através da utilização de cobertura plástica no leito de drenagem (etapa de evaporação). Resultados obtidos nesta pesquisa para ensaios realizados em protótipos de leitos de drenagem instalados na ETA de São Carlos-SP demonstraram que, quando se utiliza cobertura plástica (referência comercial PVC 0,30 mm), o processo de evaporação da água presente no lodo é acelerado e a ocorrência de precipitação não interfere em momento algum na remoção de água do lodo. A altura da cobertura em relação ao protótipo que apresentou os melhores resultados foi de 0,20 m, permitindo-se obter um lodo final até 56% mais seco que na ausência de cobertura. Ensaios realizados em escala laboratorial para condicionamento prévio do lodo bruto com polímero catiônico apresentaram resultados promissores para sua utilização em maior escala, duplicando a eficiência da drenagem inicial do lodo. Entretanto, outros ensaios laboratoriais com mantas geotêxteis de características distintas apenas confirmaram a superioridade da utilização de manta do tipo tecida de densidade superficial 600g/m² (que já havia sido utilizada em outras pesquisas) em relação às demais, no que se refere à obtenção de melhor eficiência na drenagem inicial da água presente no lodo bruto.

Mixing of backfill of the pipe drain construction with sub-ballast layer material through using enclosed drainage systems (mostly by pipe drains) has to be prevented. In order to do so, regulation SŽDC S4 Železniční spodek provides a filtration criterion which needs to be fulfilled or a geotextile with filtration function has to be used. This master thesis verifies if filtration criteria are fulfilled in between different backfilling of the pipe drains and sub-ballast layers in compliance with TNŽ 73 6949. Furthermore a verification of filtration function of different geotextiles including propositions of their suitable placement within construction of the pipe drain system is included.