| An Ultimate Bingham Material (UBM) is a gel, having a solid structure, but will liquefy at a shear plane so it can be handled with conventional pumping equipment and will flow through a pipe. The UBM is formed by reacting a mixed metal hydroxyl compound with bentonite hydrated in water. This formulation is used in drilling mud but produces a solid much too weak for building dams. The primary objective is to see if addition of solids to the UBM will produce a dam which will support a column of water and stand up to wave action.; Experiments showed that an adequate dam section can be built by adding solids to a UBM. The material can be shaped into a dam section and hold its shape within five minutes after forming the UBM. Two hours of wave action will not damage the dam. The ideal solid is a large particle with no fines and a very low density. Vermiculite gave the best performance, followed by ground polyurethane foam and ground vermiculite. The UBM without solids and with barium sulfate solids were both unsatisfactory. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)... |
