An experimental study of vertical infiltration into a structurally unstable swelling soil, with particular reference to the infiltration throttle

Soil Research ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 121 ◽  
Author(s):  
BJ Bridge ◽  
N Collis-George

The infiltration phenomena associated with a structurally unstable swelling soil are compared with those of a two-layer stable system of a fine sand layer over coarse sand, the fine sand simulating a slaked layer at the soil surface. Water content and bulk density are measured using dual source gamma ray attenuation, pore water pressures by means of individual tensiometer-transducer systems, and soil temperatures by means of individual thermistor-bridge systems. Analysis of the sand column using well-established principles shows that after the wetting front has passed the texture boundary, infiltration is controlled by Kmax of the fine sand layer and the negative moisture potential in the coarse sand at the texture boundary. After the wetting front penetrates the column, the moisture potential at the texture boundary becomes steady and is unaffected by the development of a capillary fringe and outflow at the base of the column. The negative moisture potentials at the texture boundary give rise to potential gradients up to 6.0 in the simulated slaked layer, and an infiltration rate several times that of Kmax. The low flow rates caused by the fine sand layer give rise to an unstable wetting front in the coarse sand and severe 'fingering' occurs. In the swelling soil column, with aggregates of the same size as the coarse sand, the infiltration throttle occurs immediately below the visibly slaked layer and not at the ground surface. Potential gradients through the throttle reach a maximum of 5.9 similar to that in the layered sand column, but the infiltration behaviour of swelling soil differs from the latter in other respects. Infiltration into the former does not occur under isothermal conditions, a 'hot front' 3�C above ambient occurring 2-3 mm ahead of the wetting front, and infiltration does not reach a constant rate because of changes in the hydraulic properties of the throttle with time. Moisture profiles in the swelling soil column during infiltration show the various zones described by Bodman and Colman (1944) for non-swelling soils. An enlarged apparent transition zone extend to 12 cm below the soil surface. Other properties such as density, moisture content, and total potential suggest that much of this apparent transition zone is really part of a transmission zone made up of layers of soil which have different properties because of swelling.

1985 ◽  
Vol 17 (10) ◽  
pp. 197-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. H. Jørgensen

In two different unsaturated soil columns percolated with artificial rainwater under simulated aerated conditions, transport of coxsackievirus B3 and adenovirus 1 below 3.5 cm under the soil surface could not be demonstrated. The viruses were applied to the columns as seeded sewage sludge. Under saturated conditions transport of water-suspended coxsackievirus B3 was faster in a soil column with sandy loam soil than in a diluvial sand column.


Soil Research ◽  
1974 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Talsma

The effects of initial moisture content and infiltration quantity on redistribution of water were studied in a loam, a fine sand, and a coarse sand. Moisture profiles during redistribution were obtained by gamma ray attenuation. Measured values of the hydraulic properties of these soils were used to calculate fluxes at the transition from drainage to wetting. The results were used to check a recent analysis of Peck. Gravity effects dominated in both sands, while in the loam capillary effects dominated at the smaller initial moisture contents and infiltration quantities. In all materials, increasing initial moisture content or infiltration quantity increased the contribution of gravity to the flux at the transition, and decreased the contribution due to capillary potential gradients. For a particular material, it depends on the magnitude of these fluxes whether mean moisture contents in the draining zone will be higher or lower at increasing values of initial moisture content or infiltration quantity.


Author(s):  
Tô Viết Nam ◽  
Nguyễn Việt Kỳ

In order to better evaluate the applicability of the inverse analysis method for calculation and evaluation of hydraulic properties of unsaturated soil in more realistic conditions, a transient one – step outflow experiment for layered sands was applied in the desaturation process with the purpose to attain the profiles of suction, saturation and flow rate with time. In this study, the fine sand and medium sand were used with the same thickness of 40cm for each layer. The sand grains were mixed under water and scooped into the plexiglas column (H = 80cm, D = 28cm, wall thickness = 1cm) to prepare a fully saturated sample. For homogeneity within each sand layer, the density of two sands must be controlled during soil column construction. For numerical study, the inverse simulation and one straightforward calculation were carried out to determine the unsaturated hydraulic properties of sands. Unsaturated hydraulic parameters in the van Genuchten model were estimated using soil suction measurements at 10cm intervals and an outflow rate at the bottom of a layered sand column. To reduce the quantity of data for analysis and simulation but still keep enough typical information for the experiment, four data sets of soil suction and saturation at four locations (L2, L4, L5 and L8) were selected out of eight to compile the Soil Water Characteristic Curve. The comparison between predicted unsaturated hydraulic properties and the experimental unsaturated hydraulic properties shows good agreement in the case of the fine sand was overlaid with medium sand. The results concluded that besides the homogeneous sand, the inverse analysis based on the 1-D outflow experiment promises to be a useful method in determining the hydraulic properties for unsaturated heterogeneous sand.


Soil Research ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 75 ◽  
Author(s):  
N Collis-George ◽  
DM Freebairn

Field and laboratory results of infiltration advance are presented. They are compared with results from equations that derive from the Lewis-Milne equation after substitution of infiltration relations based on independently determined parameters obtained from infiltration experiments. In the laboratory, change of slope, change of supply rate, prewetting of the surface, and restriction of vertical air escape were studied in various combinations for two homogeneous materials. Change of supply rate, q, affected the rate of advance, x, while change of slope and prewetting the surface had only second order effects with a change of q. Results are compared in terms of the ratio x/q. Agreement between theory and experimental results is good. The effect of restriction of air escape vertically ahead of the wetting front was marked, even though the measured increase in air pressure was small, and effectively reduced the parameters, sorptivity and hydraulic conductivity. An innovation is to introduce a further term-the 'instantaneous' crack-filling volume. This slightly modifies the equations used for homogeneous materials and provides very good descriptions of irrigation advance phenomena for a cracking grey clay, a duplex red-brown earth, and for laboratory simulated duplex profiles consisting of two thicknesses of coarse sand overlying fine sand. The movement of water into the layered sand systems showed that infiltration is not entirely vertical as equired by the Lewis-Milne equation. The implications of the experimental results and the use of infiltration-advance equations in studies of the irrigation of field soils are briefly discussed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaocheng Liu ◽  
Chenming Zhang ◽  
Yue Liu ◽  
David Lockington ◽  
Ling Li

<p>Estimation of evaporation rates from soils is significant for environmental, hydrological, and agricultural purposes. Modeling of the soil surface resistance is essential to estimate the evaporation rates from bare soil. Empirical surface resistance models may cause large deviations when applied to different soils. A physically-based soil surface model is developed to calculate the surface resistance, which can consider evaporation on the soil surface when soil is fully saturated and the vapor flow below the soil surface after dry layer forming on the top. Furthermore, this physically-based expression of the surface resistance is added into a numerical model that considers the liquid water transport, water vapor transport, and heat transport during evaporation. The simulation results are in good agreement with the results from six soil column drying experiments.  This numerical model can be applied to predict or estimate the evaporation rate of different soil and saturation at different depths during evaporation.</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 332-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larissa Felicidade Werkhauser Demarco ◽  
Antonio Henrique da Fontoura Klein ◽  
Jorge Antonio Guimarães de Souza

Abstract This paper presents an evaluation of the response of seismic reflection attributes in different types of marine substrate (rock, shallow gas, sediments) using seafloor samples for ground-truth statistical comparisons. The data analyzed include seismic reflection profiles collected using two CHIRP subbottom profilers (Edgetech Model 3100 SB-216S), with frequency ranging between 2 and 16 kHz, and a number (38) of sediment samples collected from the seafloor. The statistical method used to discriminate between different substratum responses was the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis analysis, carried out in two steps: 1) comparison of Seismic Attributes between different marine substrates (unconsolidated sediments, rock and shallow gas); 2) comparison of Seismic Attributes between different sediment classes in seafloors characterized by unconsolidated sediments (subdivided according to sorting). These analyses suggest that amplitude-related attributes were effective in discriminating between sediment and gassy/rocky substratum, but did not differentiate between rocks and shallow gas. On the other hand, the Instantaneous Frequency attribute was effective in differentiating sediments, rocks and shallow gas, with sediment showing higher frequency range, rock an intermediate range, and shallow gas the lowest response. Regarding grain-size classes and sorting, statistical analysis discriminated between two distinct groups of samples, the SVFS (silt and very fine sand) and the SFMC (fine, medium and coarse sand) groups. Using a Spearman coefficient, it was found that the Instantaneous Amplitude was more efficient in distinguishing between the two groups. None of the attributes was able to distinguish between the closest grain size classes such as those of silt and very fine sand.


1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (11) ◽  
pp. 1700-1708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis A. St-Onge ◽  
Jean Lajoie

The late Quaternary olistostrome exposed in the lower Coppermine River valley fills a paleovalley that ranges in apparent width from 150 to 400 m and was cut into Precambrian bedrock before the last glaciation. The olistostrome is here named the Sleigh Creek Formation. The coarse fraction of the formation is matrix supported; beds are massive or reversely graded and have sharp, nonerosive contacts. These characteristics suggest deposition of the coarse fraction by debris flows. The olistostrome sequence is bracketed by, and wedged into, a marine rhythmite sequence, which indicates that deposition occurred in a marine environment.About 10 500 years BP glacier ice in the Coronation Gulf lowland dammed the valley to the south, which was occupied by glacial Lake Coppermine. Sediments accumulated in this lake in a 30 m thick, coarsening upward sequence ranging from glaciolacustrine rhythmites of silt and fine sand at the base to coarse sand alluvium, and deltaic gravels at the top. As the Coronation Gulf lowlands became ice free, the Coppermine River reoccupied its former drainage course to the north. The steep south to north gradient and rapid downcutting by the river through the glacial lake sediments produced unstable slope conditions. The resulting debris flows filled a bedrock valley network below the postglacial sea level, forming the diamicton sequence.The interpretation of the Sleigh Creek Formation raises questions concerning silimar diamicton deposits usually defined as "flowtills." More generally, the results of this study indicate that care must be used when attempting paleogeographic reconstructions of "glaciogenic" deposits in marine sequences in any part of the geologic record.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 2447-2451 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. M. Alghamdi

Surficial sediments with low radon content are desirable materials in construction applications. In this study, the relationship between grain size and radon content was investigated in sediments collected from seven sites in Wadi Arar, Saudi Arabia, with the intent of determining whether grain size analysis could be used for rapidly assessing the suitability of potential construction materials. Thirty-five samples were collected (five per site) and the grain size distribution was determined using sieves. Radon contents were measured on composite samples with a RAD7 radon detector. Among the sediment types (gravel, coarse sand, medium sand, fine sand, and silt and clay), the best linear correlations between grain size and radon contents were found for the coarse sand (negative slope, r=0.82) and fine sand (positive slope, r=0.78). Polynomial relationships were also tested. A fourth-degree polynomial equation effectively described the correlation between grain size and radon content (R2 = 0.933). As shown by this model, the highest correlations with radon contents were detected at grain sizes smaller than 2.0 mm. Thus, grain size may be useful for preliminary site assessment work.


1970 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-49
Author(s):  
O Adegbuyi ◽  
GP Ojo ◽  
AJ Adeola ◽  
MT Alebiosu

The physical and chemical properties of clay deposits around Isua-Akoko, Akure, Lafe and Ayadi in Ondo State southwestern Nigeria have been examined. The results have shown that Isua-Akoko, Akure and Lafe Clays are plastic fire clays while Ayadi clay is kaolinite. Grain size analysis reveals that Isua Akoko Clay contains 45% of clay, 18% silt, 12% fine sand,14% medium sand and 11% coarse sand and no gravel; Akure clay contains 42% clay, 14% silt, 13% fine sand, 20% medium sand and 8% coarse sand with 1% gravel. Lafe Clay contains 21% clay, 8% silt, 25% fine sand, 37% medium sand and 8% coarse sand with 1% gravel while Ayadi clay contains 83% clay and 17% silt. The liquid limits of these clay samples range from 41% to 73%% and plastic limits range from 18% to 26% respectively. The chemical analysis reveals that the most abundant mineral is silica (60.97%) and aluminum was next in abundance (23.69%) while other oxides are low. The results show that Isua-Akoko and Akure are residual while Lafe and Ayadi are sedimentary and transported Clays. The firing test, PH, and bleaching tests of the clays are also discussed. The chemical and physical characteristics of the clay deposits are strongly indicative of their industrial importance in the production of ceramics, refractories, paving bricks, paint and pharmaceutical products.KEYWORDS: Kaolinite, fire clay, gravel, ceramics and alumina.


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