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A cost-benefit analysis for geotextile tube dewatering with and without a spacer product
Dissertation   Open access

A cost-benefit analysis for geotextile tube dewatering with and without a spacer product

Conor M. McCafferty
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
26 Mar 2021
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00000331
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Abstract

Option value Slurry--Dewatering Geotextiles
Geotextile tubes have been widely used for dewatering fine-grained slurries and containing their suspended solids. This study analyzes the inclusion of a spacer placed around a tube as an alternative means of improving dewatering efficiency, both with and without the use of flocculants. The filtration behavior of slurry through the geotextile tube and the accumulated soil filter cake was expressed using a power-law by analyzing published test data from Pressure Filtration Tests (PFT). Computational models were developed to predict the effluent flow rate, accumulated solids inside the tube, and the dewatering process's duration for three tube placement configurations: a single tube, a single layer of multiple tubes, and multiple layers of tubes. The benefit of including a spacer to increase effluent flow rates was determined by evaluating the relative durations of the dewatering for the three various tube configurations. Lastly, for various project conditions, costs, both with and without a spacer, were analyzed. Sources of cost include the materials, labor, and energy associated with a project. Using a spacer is considered beneficial when the expenses saved in labor and energy attributed to its use outweigh its procurement cost.

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