The main problem in the reduction of river bottom sediments is to solve the dewatering of the sludge. The commonly used natural air drying method requires a large amount of time and economic cost. In this paper, different treatments were developed for the needs of the project, and related tests were carried out on the reduction of the sludge. Firstly, two or more flocculants were compounded according to the nature of the sludge. The 6 different treatments were determined according to the sedimentation and the turbidity value of the supernatant. Secondly, the dewatering test was carried out on river sediments after flocculation-vacuum preloading. The dewatering effect of different flocculants, water quality, dissipation of pore water pressure, vane shear strength, compression coefficient, and coefficient of consolidation have been analyzed after flocculation-vacuum preloading. The polysilicate aluminium ferric (PSAF) can greatly increase the dewatering efficiency of the filter press membrane, and the final dewatering amount could reach 310 g. The effect of purifying water quality was PSAF>PAM (polyacrylamide, PAM-1(18 million): PAM-2(23 million) = 3:7)>PAC (polyaluminium chloride). The PSAF and PAC could increase the pH of the water during the vacuum preloading test. The PAM has the best the vane shear strength. Lime could improve the vacuum preloading and the vane shear strength when it was added to other flocculants. The incorporation of PSAF could accelerate the dissipation and increase the final dissipation value of pores water pressure. Compared with PAM+PAC+lime, PAM+lime, PAM+PSAF+lime, PAM+PSAF, and PAM+PAC, the overall effect and price of the PAM is optimal.
Keywords: Compression coefficient; Flocculation effect; River bottom sediments; Vacuum preloading; Vane shear strength.