Effect of high initial water content on cement-based sludge solidification.

When solidifying/stabilising high water content materials, the water/cement (w/c) ratios are higher than those usually found in concrete engineering. However, an important question about the availability of the total measured water content can be asked. In this paper, the influence of initial water content on the mechanical behaviour of solidified dredged sludge is investigated. Water consumptions for three types of cement are measured after solidification with different w/c ratios. It has been observed that the three types of cement consume different quantities of water. The theoretical water consumption value expressed by unit mass of anhydrous cement is 0.42. Many observations concerning the water consumption compared with the replacement level suggest that the measured initial water is not totally available to hydrate the added cement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]