Electrical properties of water in clay and silty soils

Abstract

In order to better understand ground penetrating radar (GPR) results obtained in road surveys and site investigations, the dielectric properties and electrical conductivity of four silt and clay soils were measured at different densities and moisture contents ranging from oven dry material to the plastic state. The real parts K′ and imaginary parts K″ of the relative dielectric permittivity values of the soils were measured with an HP Surface Network Analyzer over a frequency range from 30 MHz to 3.0 GHz. A dielectric and electrical conductivity meter produced by Adek was also used. The results suggest that water in soils can be classified according to its electrical properties as: (1) an adsorption water layer, also known as the hygroscopic water layer; (2) a viscous or capillary water layer; and (3) free water. The measurements also showed that the adsorption water layer can be divided into inner and outer layers in accordance with the electrical double layer theory. The imaginary part of the dielectric value of the material is formed mainly in the outer layer and partly in the viscous (capillary) water layer, which also has two layers with differing electrical properties. The measurements also clearly showed that if the Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) of a material is low, the water molecules are orderly arranged around the soil particles and the dielectric values of the bound water layers remain almost independent of frequency. If the CEC increases, the molecular structure of the bound water layers is disturbed and the water molecules more easily follow the changing AC field so that the dielectric value is higher. These materials are also highly dielectrically dispersive, especially at GPR frequencies below 400 MHz. Increasing CEC correlates well with increasing imaginary part of the adsorption water layer. Measured ohmic electrical conductivities were low at low moisture content and increased as the outer viscous water layer developed with higher moisture content. A clear jump in electrical conductivity takes place when the free unbound water starts to fill the pores between the mineral grains.