Control del potencial de erosión de un suelo artificial, proveniente de una planta de aguas residuales domésticas

Abstract

The geotechnical characterization of an artificial soil has been made. The mud used was taken from a domestic waste water treatment plant. For evaluating this characterization, tests on consistency limits, granulometry through hydrometers, Proctor standard, permeability and specific gravity were made. An environmental characterization of this artificial soil was also made. Data from a parallel investigation for a possible usage of this material in agricultural activities of this same material was used for this characterization. A complementary part of this investigation is focused in analyzing the erosion potential of this artificial soil due to the effects of rainfall. In order to measure soil erosion, a hydrologic simulator was designed in order to control the intensity of rainfall that could reproduce precipitations able to produce soil erosion. The simulator has a hydraulic system that controls the pressure of its four sprinklers. This way, intensity inside the simulator can be quantified. An acrylic tray with an exposed area of 0, 25 m2 and a thickness of 0, 1 m, was built in order to place the soil material and to simulate a slope. This tray has a canoe in its base that allows measuring runoff and soil erosion; as well as holes of the bottom where the infiltration was measured. Finally, many tests were made by adding different kinds of cement to this artificial soil material. The purpose of this was to find the optimal percentage of cement to lower erosion of the new artificial soil taking into consideration price minimal costs as well.