Soil-Pollution Effects on Geotextile Composite Walls

Abstract

For designing or selecting proper types or porosity of the geotextile to be used in a composite wall, it is necessary to know the grain size distribution of the surrounding soil under consideration. This determination becomes especially critical when the engineered facility is exposed to various biological and chemical stresses overtime. A series of laboratory investigations were conducted to examine the effects of pore fluid pH, soil adsorption of particulate matter and also particle volume change on the grain size distribution of soils. The results showed that the particle size distribution curve shifted to finer scales as water pH increased for non-dispersive clays. For a dispersive clay, the trend of the particle size distribution curve was opposite, shifting to the finer sizes with decrease in water pH. Surrounding water pH was also found to correlate with volume change of soil particles and soil matrix which subsequently would affect particle size distribution.