Limitations in the use of electrical conductivity to monitor the behaviour of soil solution

Soil Research ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 44 (7) ◽  
pp. 695 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Rose ◽  
F. Abbas ◽  
M. A. Adey

Solutions of KBr and K2SO4 of various concentrations were separately displaced by deionised water through 2 contrasting saturated materials, inert solid particles (glass ballotini), and a reactive but non-swelling aggregated clay mineral (sepiolite) over a wide range of flow rates. The concentration of the individual ions in the effluent was analysed (Br– and K+ with ion-specific electrodes, SO42+ by ion chromatography) and that of bulk solution was measured by electrical conductivity (EC). For each displacement, the individual breakthrough curves (BTCs) for the anion, the cation, and the bulk solution were optimised by CXTFIT 2.0. In ballotini, the BTCs of the anion, cation, and solution were always congruent, the retardation factors did not differ significantly from unity, and the coefficients of hydrodynamic dispersion were identical. For sepiolite, the ions were separated; the bulk solution eluted faster than the cation, slower than the anions. Retardation factors were always less than unity for the anions, greater than unity for the cation, and close to but less than unity for the bulk solution, and became more extreme as the concentration of solute decreased. Dispersion coefficients were, however, unaffected by type of solute, concentration range, or particular ion/EC. The separation of ions means that the composition as well as the concentration of a solution changes continuously during flow through a reactive soil. Estimates of solution concentration from measurements of EC may thus fail to characterise adequately the movement of the individual components of the solution in such materials. This has implications for the interpretation of any leachate monitoring in reactive soils by methods based on the measurement of EC, such as time-domain reflectometry.

1980 ◽  
Vol 101 (4) ◽  
pp. 843-861 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. J. Pedley

When pure solvent is separated from a solution of non-zero concentration Cb by a semi-permeable membrane, permeable to solvent (water) but not to solute, water flows osmotically across the membrane towards the solution. Its velocity J is given by J = PΔC, where P is a constant and ΔC is the concentration difference across the membrane. Because the osmotic flow advects solute away from the membrane, ΔC is usually less than Cb, by a factor γ which depends on the thickness of and flow in a concentration boundary layer. In this paper the layer is analysed on the assumption that the stirring motions in the bulk solution, which counter the osmotic advection, can be represented as two-dimensional stagnation-point flow. The steady-state results are compared with those of the standard physiological model in which the layer has a given thickness δ and the osmotic advection is countered only by diffusion. It turns out that the standard theory, although mechanistically inadequate, accurately predicts the value of γ over a wide range of values of the governing parameter β = PCbδ/D (where D is the solute diffusivity) if δ is given by \[ \delta = 1.59\bigg(\frac{D}{\nu}\bigg)^{\frac{1}{3}}\bigg(\frac{\nu}{\alpha}\bigg)^{\frac{1}{2}}, \] where ν is the kinematic viscosity of the fluid and α is the stirring parameter. The final approach to the steady state is also analysed, and it is shown to be achieved in a time scale (D/ν)1/3/αk′ where k′ is a dimensionless number whose dependence on β is computed. Moreover, if β exceeds a certain critical value (≈ 10), the approach to the steady state is not monotonic but takes the form of a damped oscillation (in practice, however, β is unlikely to rise significantly above 1). The theory is extended to the case where the solute concentration is non-zero on both sides of the membrane and in that case it is shown that J is bounded as β → ∞.


1997 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Mojid ◽  
G. C. L. Wyseure ◽  
D. A. Rose

Abstract. The electrical conductivity (EC) of a medium invaded by TDR sensors can be estimated from the impedance of a TDR reflectogram. Four categories of sensor were tested in salt solutions and the impedances of the TDR pulse wave were correlated to the EC of the solution. The relation between the impedance and EC over a wide range of conductivities is non-linear but stable. Second- to fourth-degree polynomials can extend the measurement range to 44 dS m-1 (equivalent to a NaCl concentration of 28 g l-1 or 0.48 N) and result in better prediction of the conductivities than linear relations. For automatic measurement of EC with a datalogger, the method of Giese and Tiemann (1975, Adv. Mol. Rel. Processes, 7: 45-59) gives accurate measurement of conductivities lower than 10 dS m-1. Polynomial relations between EC and the datalogger's record provide an accurate estimate of the conductivity over a wide range. However, for both manual and automatic measurements, the sensors need to be calibrated individually. In particular, in the non-linear region, the differences between sensors are larger. Fortunately, the relation is sufficiently stable to eliminate significant error.


2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farhat Abbas ◽  
Derek A. Rose

Abstract During downward vertical flow of a viscous solution, the viscous fingering (VF) phenomenon affects miscible displacement of solutes through a soil profile. On the other hand, during horizontal flow, when the liquid residing in a horizontal bed of porous materials is displaced by another liquid of different density, the resulting hydrodynamic dispersion is modified by the formation of a tongue of denser liquid undershooting the less dense liquid, a phenomenon known as gravity segregation (GS). To explore VF and GS phenomena, the authors present laboratory experimental results on the vertical and horizontal transport of bulk solution and ions of different concentrations and/or densities through inert and reactive porous media. The study showed that, with miscible liquids, breakthrough starts later and ends earlier. The authors predicted the behavior of immiscible liquids by the nondimensional gravity segregation number β: that is, with increase in β, the segregation becomes extreme. The curve fitting technique CXTFIT 2.0 fitted the experimental breakthrough curves well, showing that the apparent coefficients of hydrodynamic dispersion vary much less with pore-water velocity in horizontal than in vertical flow, but retardation factors are not influenced by the orientation of flow. This work is relevant to the preferential flow of viscous liquids such as liquid fertilizers in agricultural fields, oil recovery processes, and the intrusion of saline water into the freshwater of coastal aquifers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (10(79)) ◽  
pp. 12-18
Author(s):  
G. Bubyreva

The existing legislation determines the education as "an integral and focused process of teaching and upbringing, which represents a socially important value and shall be implemented so as to meet the interests of the individual, the family, the society and the state". However, even in this part, the meaning of the notion ‘socially significant benefit is not specified and allows for a wide range of interpretation [2]. Yet the more inconcrete is the answer to the question – "who and how should determine the interests of the individual, the family and even the state?" The national doctrine of education in the Russian Federation, which determined the goals of teaching and upbringing, the ways to attain them by means of the state policy regulating the field of education, the target achievements of the development of the educational system for the period up to 2025, approved by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 4, 2000 #751, was abrogated by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of March 29, 2014 #245 [7]. The new doctrine has not been developed so far. The RAE Academician A.B. Khutorsky believes that the absence of the national doctrine of education presents a threat to national security and a violation of the right of citizens to quality education. Accordingly, the teacher has to solve the problem of achieving the harmony of interests of the individual, the family, the society and the government on their own, which, however, judging by the officially published results, is the task that exceeds the abilities of the participants of the educational process.  The particular concern about the results of the patriotic upbringing served as a basis for the legislative initiative of the RF President V. V. Putin, who introduced the project of an amendment to the Law of RF "About Education of the Russian Federation" to the State Duma in 2020, regarding the quality of patriotic upbringing [3]. Patriotism, considered by the President of RF V. V. Putin as the only possible idea to unite the nation is "THE FEELING OF LOVE OF THE MOTHERLAND" and the readiness for every sacrifice and heroic deed for the sake of the interests of your Motherland. However, the practicing educators experience shortfalls in efficient methodologies of patriotic upbringing, which should let them bring up citizens, loving their Motherland more than themselves. The article is dedicated to solution to this problem based on the Value-sense paradigm of upbringing educational dynasty of the Kurbatovs [15].


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