Do you know any innovative process, additive or machinery, which accelerates the drying of soil, reduces the extra cost of construction projects due to delays and applicable in massive earthworks?
Member • Oct 12, 2018
Water needs a lot of energy to evaporate. About 2 KWHrs/US Gallon. This translates to a lot in massive earthworks. Additives will not help. Additional problem is that once the exposed top layers are dried further evaporation is controlled by diffusion from lower levels, which will be influenced by porosity of the soil and such factors, which are themselves influenced by clay content and such.
Some sort of solar energy assisted drying may help. For cost effectiveness, the simplest solution may be to just spread poly ethylene foil sheeting over the area with perforations, which allow water vapor to escape. This can be tested quickly over a small area, say 10' x 10'. comparing the behavior with an adjoining open area.
