Drying Clay
Drying Clay
(OP)
I am building a fill on an earthen dam the core material by spec must have a minimum of 50% passing a 200 sieve a clay material. Problem the excavated material on site is registering 22% moisture and optimum moisture is around 13% it must be dried to build this fill. This is an open cut of an existing reservoir to install a pipe. The work must be completed by the end of February so simply waiting for dryer weather is not an option.We have explored the possibillities of using a portable drum dryer but the local environmental requirements would take months to obtain a permit. Trucking the material to a hot plant for drying is costly. Any ideas would be appreciated





RE: Drying Clay
I've used this technique on roads many times and it may work in your application.
KRS Services
www.krs-services.com
RE: Drying Clay
1) When disking as suggested by KRSServices to introduce additional dry material so a blend is obtained that fits the specs and reduces the moisture.
or/and
2) Can a hygroscopic material be disked in to reduce moistute eg cement say 5% by wt. (dependent on volumes involved), lime (calcium ?? - forgot my chem here!) or suchlike material.
RE: Drying Clay
RE: Drying Clay
Rockjoint
rockjoint@yahoo.com
RE: Drying Clay
The drying effect is actually that the quicklime will modify the LL nd PL typically reducing the PI and increasing the OMC. There also is a Pozzalonic reaction that takes place dependent on the percentage of lime applied. This reaction creates a 'dirtcrete' that will continue to gain strength for as long as 6-9 months.
Lime reacts similarly to soil cement however the lime treated material can be excavated and recompacted and maintain the strength gains.
For more info www.lime.org
I have mixed approximately 500,000 CY this past of everthing from CH & MH to SM & SC material and benefitted from being able to work continueously during the wettest year in history in the Washington DC area
RE: Drying Clay
Typically dam specs require the core material to be compacted just wet of optimum moisture content. How far wet is a matter of debate and is also influenced by the height of the dam.
RE: Drying Clay
The core should be constructed of unmodified clay -
Please see FAQ731-376 for great suggestions on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
RE: Drying Clay
RE: Drying Clay
RE: Drying Clay
Good luck.