Abstract

The hydraulic conductivity, k, of clayey soils is strongly influenced by the physicochemical properties of permeating liquid hydrocarbons. Tests on natural Sarnia soils mixed with pure liquids at a void ratio of 0.8 yielded k values that increased from 5 × 10−9 to 1 × 10−4 cm/s as the dielectric constant of the permeant decreased from 80 to 2.Sequential permeation of compacted, water-wet samples (k ≈ 10−8 cm/s) showed no changes in hydraulic conductivity when permeated with water-insoluble hydrocarbons of low dielectric constant (benzene, cyclohexane, xylene). These hydrophobic liquids were forced through microchannels or macropores and displaced less than 10% of the pore water from samples at a void ratio of unity.Permeation with water-soluble alcohols resulted in extensive removal of the pore water and up to 10-fold increases in k. Subsequent permeation with liquid aromatics of very low dielectric constant resulted in 1000-fold increases in k with only 30% of the pore space occupied by the aromatics. Association liquids such as alcohol that are mutually soluble in water and the aromatics seem to be required to initiate huge increases in k over testing periods of short duration. Key words: hydraulic conductivity, liquid hydrocarbons, clay barriers, dielectric constant.

Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call