Summer 2021 Undergraduate Research Poster Session

Clay Rheology assessment

REU: Underground Infrastructure REU | AUTHOR: Dylan Salica – Univeristy at Buffalo

MENTOR: Jamal Rostami – Colorado School of Mines

ABSTRACT

Rheology is the study of flow in non-newtonian fluids. Rheology is critical to understanding and operation of the machines and processes that depend on the properties of non-newtonian fluids. In this research, the properties of bentonite were evaluated in a large experimental rheometer as a method of calibration between a common laboratory rheometer and a smaller and large-scale experimental version. Once the relationship between the two is established, the larger rheometer can be used to find the properties of materials that otherwise could not be tested. These tests have applications specifically for EPB TBM machines as soil rheology has an outsized effect on their efficiency and operation. Despite its importance, clay and soil rheology is poorly understood in this context. Previous researchers’ work involved creating the experimental rheometer body and head. The rheometer is a modified drill press with a test vessel composed of a large steel bucket with two attached load cells to measure resultant torque. The rotating head is a steel auger about the width of the container. This research aimed to draw a relationship between a highly accurate but small laboratory rheometer and the larger rheometer so natural clay soils and conditioners could be characterized at the necessary scale. Several different concentrations of water and bentonite were evaluated in both rheometers with experimental samples containing encapso, a biomass/ rheology modifier. The findings of this research are currently inconclusive. Most clay mixtures, when mixed with encapso, do not follow a distinct trend. However, these tests were not conclusive. More testing and a review of the methodology for mixing the materials and conditioners need to be done before the rheometer can be reliably used to characterize these materials

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Dylan Salica Is an junior in civil engineering at the University at Buffalo in Buffalo NY. His research in the past has focused on autonomous vehicles and traffic engineering. His current work is on soil and clay Rheology and he hopes to further explore research topics in his graduate studies

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