Solutions to estimate the excess PWP, settlement and volume of draining water after slurry deposition. Part I: impervious base

In coastal engineering, the storage of dredged sludge needs the construction of containment structures. In mining engineering, the surface disposal of tailings slurry requires the construction of tailings dam. In both cases, one needs to estimate the excess pore water pressure (PWP), draining water and settlement of the slurry during and after the deposition. An analytical solution presented by the authors based on a model proposed by Gibson in 1958 can be used to evaluate the excess PWP during slurry deposition. The equation given by Gibson in 1958 for assessing the excess PWP after the end of slurry deposition cannot be used because it contains an error. In addition, there is no existing solution to estimate the settlement and volume of draining water after the end of slurry deposition. In this paper, a new solution based on the Gibson’s governing equation is proposed to evaluate the excess PWP, settlement and volume of draining water after the end of slurry deposition on an impervious base. The proposed solution is partly validated by numerical and laboratory test results. The solution for estimating the excess PWP, settlement and volume of draining water after the end of slurry deposition on a pervious base is presented in a companion paper.