Here is some facts regarding electro osmotic consolidation of soil:
- Electro osmotic 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.
- Electro osmosis was initially created as a medium of dewatering fine grained soils for the strengthening and consolidating of the soft saturated clayey soils.
- Electro osmotic dewatering primarily includes applying a small electric latent across the sediment level.
- It is the procedure where in positively charged ions travel from anode to cathode. That is water transfer from anode to cathode where it could be composed and pumped out of soil
- Electro osmotic flow is subjected on 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 consists a –ve charge. These –ve charge creates an electro static surface characteristic which is also known as the double layer which produces a net profusion of cations in pore space.
- Electro osmotic 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.