Experimental study on non-symmetric polarity reversal for reducing interfacial resistance in electro-osmosis of soft soil

• Published in: Geotechnical Aspects of Underground Construction in Soft Ground pp. 99 - 106
• Main Authors: Jiang, Y., Zhou, J., Xu, C., Zhu, Z., Gan, Q.
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: CRC Press 2024
• Edition: 1
• ISBN: 9781032538129; 1032538163; 1032538120; 9781032538167
• DOI: 10.1201/9781003413790-10

During the process of electro-osmosis of soft soil, the continuous increase in clay-electrode interfacial resistance has led to the high energy consumption of the electro-osmotic treatment method. To address this issue, this paper proposes a power supply scheme of non-symmetric electrode polarity reversal (NSPR) from the perspective of interface electrochemical reaction. Considering that the change of current density will significantly affect the interface resistance, a constant current mode of electro-osmotic test is designed. Using a self-designed one-dimensional electro-osmotic device, the influence of the power-on time and current density on the interface resistance under the proposed mode is investigated. The experimental results show that the NSPR mode under certain conditions can effectively alleviate the concentration polarization and reduce the interface resistance. The variation trend of interface resistance corresponds to the power parameters (time and current density), and the method of reversing the external potential can exchange the electrode electrochemical reaction, consume the generated products accumulated on the electrode surface, and improve the utilization efficiency of the power supply scheme. The impact of NSPR parameters on the interface resistance can be summarized by the reversal intensity, which reflects the combined effects of reverse current and reverse time. Lower reversal intensities have been found to effectively decrease the interface resistance through the electrode reversal mode.