Application of 3D-Printing Technology in a Modified Oedometer for Characterization of Dredged Coastal Wetland Sediments

In Louisiana’s marsh creation projects designed to mitigate wetland loss, riverine sediments are hydraulically dredged and transported through pipelines. These dredged materials are extremely soft, with moisture contents well above 100%, resulting in significant consolidation settlements even under minimal self-weight loads. Conventional one-dimensional (1-D) oedometer consolidation tests are commonly used to assess consolidation behavior; however, they are limited to soils with much lower moisture contents. At higher moisture levels, the soft slurry tends to overflow due to the weight of the standard stainless-steel dial cap and porous stone, which together apply a seating pressure of 1.07 kPa (0.01 TSF). This study presents a modified oedometer setup utilizing 3D-printed dial caps made from lightweight materials such as polylactic acid (PLA) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), reducing the seating pressure to 0.21 kPa (0.002 TSF). This modification enables testing of dredged soils with moisture contents up to 100% without overflow. Settling column tests were also integrated with the modified oedometer tests, allowing for the development of void ratio–effective stress relationships spanning from 0.02 kPa (0.0002 TSF) to 107.25 kPa (1 TSF). The results demonstrate that combining settling column and modified oedometer tests provides an effective approach for evaluating the consolidation behavior of high-moisture slurry soils.