Slurry walls are barriers made of clay and water used to prevent trench collapse during construction and control groundwater flow in land remediation. They are effective when dug deep enough to contact impermeable rock or clay and can be used to redirect clean groundwater or contain a contaminated site.
Sewage walls are impermeable barriers that can be used to prevent an unstable trench from collapsing or to prevent groundwater from entering a given area. This technique involves digging a trench and filling it with a slurry of clay and water. In order to facilitate the construction of underground structures, the primary purpose of a slurry wall is to prevent the unstable ground from collapsing before the concrete can be poured. The same technique can be used to control the flow of groundwater into treatment systems and areas where subsurface contamination has occurred, although in these cases the mud wall must be excavated to a particular depth and typically not it is never replaced with concrete.
The slurry wall technique has uses in both the construction and land remediation fields. In both cases, the slurry is a semisolid mixture typically composed of clay and water. The thick suspension is firm enough to help maintain the integrity of a trench dug in soft soil, lighter than concrete and impervious to groundwater. Each of these characteristics is necessary for the construction of an effective slurry wall.
In construction projects, slurry walls can be used to facilitate the pouring of large underground concrete structures. If the ground is solid, you can simply dig a trench, lower it into a mold, and then pour concrete to create a wall. When the ground is soft, waterlogged or otherwise unstable, an unsupported trench will tend to collapse in on itself. To support such a trench until concrete can be poured, slurry is pumped during excavation. When the concrete is subsequently pumped to the bottom of the trench, it will naturally displace the lighter slurry.
The impermeable nature of clay and water mixes can also be used in soil remediation projects and other tasks that require groundwater flow control. For this type of slurry wall to be effective, the trench containing it must be dug deep enough to contact a natural layer of impermeable rock or clay. The water will then tend to flow around the slurry wall as the clay is already saturated and will not be able to pass underneath due to the underlying rock or clay. This can be used to redirect clean groundwater around a contaminated site or to contain an area completely. If a contaminated site is adequately surrounded by sewage walls, the soil can then undergo remediation processes.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
