Speaker
Description
The increasing demand for construction materials places growing pressure on natural resources, prompting the search for sustainable alternatives such as dredged sediments [1, 2]. However, the reuse of these materials is strongly constrained by their organic matter (OM) content, which significantly affects their mechanical behaviour and long-term stability [3, 4, 5]. In this context, understanding and predicting OM degradation is essential for the safe and efficient reuse of sediments in engineering applications.
This study presents a Thermo–Hydro–Mechano–Biological (THMB) model to simulate OM degradation and microbial respiration in sediment stockpiles under varying climatic conditions. The model integrates environmental forcing derived from open-access meteorological data and captures the coupled processes of heat transfer, variably saturated water flow, gas diffusion, and microbially-mediated OM degradation. A comparative case study is conducted to investigate the influence of climate (temperate vs Mediterranean) and sediment granulometric composition on OM degradation kinetics. In addition, several scenarios aimed at accelerating degradation are explored.
The results highlight the strong impact of climatic conditions and material properties on degradation rates, demonstrating the relevance of multiphysics modelling for predicting the long-term evolution of the material. The proposed framework provides a useful tool for optimising sediment management and supporting their sustainable reuse in civil engineering applications.
| References | [1] Brils, J., de Boer, P., Mulder, J., & de Boer, E. (2014). Reuse of dredged material as a way to tackle societal challenges. Journal of soils and sediments, 14(9), 1638-1641. [2] Bose, B. P., & Dhar, M. (2022). Dredged sediments are one of the valuable resources: a review. International Journal of Earth Sciences Knowledge and Applications, 4(2), 324-331. [3] Barciela-Rial, M., Vardon, P. J., Van Kessel, T., Griffioen, J., & Winterwerp, J. C. (2022). Effect of composition on the compressibility and shear strength of dredged cohesive sediment. Frontiers in Earth Science, 10, 786108. [4] Develioglu, I., & Pulat, H. F. (2019). Compressibility behaviour of natural and stabilized dredged soils in different organic matter contents. Construction and Building Materials, 228, 116787. [5] Shakeel, A., Zander, F., de Klerk, J. W., Kirichek, A., Gebert, J., & Chassagne, C. (2022). Effect of organic matter degradation in cohesive sediment: a detailed rheological analysis. Journal of soils and sediments, 22(11), 2883-2892. |
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| Country | The Netherlands |
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