Here are some facts regarding electro osmotic consolidation of soil:
- Electroosmotic consolidation refers to the consolidation of soft clays with the utilization of electric current.
- It was assessed and utilized for the very first time by Casagrande.
- It is intrinsic that fine-grained clay particles with outsized interfacial facade will merge and produce momentous settlement when loaded.
- The settlement brings forward complications in the field of the foundation engineering.
- Electroosmosis was initially created as a medium of dewatering fine-grained soils for the strengthening and consolidating of the soft saturated clayey soils.
- Electroosmotic dewatering primarily includes applying a small electric latent across the sediment level.
- It is the procedure wherein positively charged ions travel from anode to cathode. That is water transfer from the anode to the cathode where it could be composed and pumped out of the soil
- Electroosmotic flow is subjected to the nature and quality of soil, water proportion, pH and on ionic type concentration in the pore water.
- Because of the applied electric potential, the electrolysis of water happens at the electrodes
- 2H2O -> O2 (g) + 4H+ +4e- oxidation (anode)
- 4H2O + 4e- -> 2H2 (g) + 4OH- reduction (cathode)
- The clay particles consist of a –ve charge. These –ve charge creates an electrostatic surface characteristic which is also known as the double layer which produces a net profusion of cations in pore space.
- Electroosmotic movement of water through clay is an outcome of diffuse double layer cations in the clay pores being turned towards to a negatively charged electrode or cathode.
- At the point when electrodes are positioned across a saturated clay mass and direct current is executed, water in the clay pore space is elated at the direction of cathode by electro osmosis.
- Furthermore, frictional drag is produced by the motion of ions as they move across the clay pores contributing to transport supplementary water.
- The flow created by the electric gradient is also known as electro osmotic flow.
