Estimating field hydraulic conductivity of compacted clay

Journal Article · Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1995 · Journal of Geotechnical Engineering

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9410(1995)121:10(736)· OSTI ID:116289

Trast, J M ^[1]; Benson, C H ^[2]

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1. STS Consultants Ltd., Green Bay, WI (United States)
2. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States). Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Results of hydraulic-conductivity tests conducted in the field and laboratory are presented for soils collected from 11 compacted-clay test pads or liners. The field tests were conducted with sealed double-ring infiltrometers to define the field-scale hydraulic conductivity (K{sub F}). The laboratory tests were conducted using large undisturbed block specimens (diameter {>=} 0.3 m) and small specimens collected in thin-wall sampling tubes (diameter = 71 mm). Results of tests at low effective stress showed that the hydraulic conductivity of the block specimens was similar to K{sub F} at each site. The hydraulic conductivities of block specimens from sites where K{sub F} exceeded 10{sup {minus}9} m/s decreased by a factor of 4 when the effective stress was increased from 10 to 44 kPa. In contrast, the hydraulic conductivities of specimens from the other sites were reduced only by a factor of 1.5 under the same increment of effective stress.

• OSTI ID: 116289
• Journal Information: Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, Vol. 121, Issue 10; Other Information: PBD: Oct 1995
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CLAYS
HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY
LINERS
FIELD TESTS
PERFORMANCE
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS