Numerical determination of the effective permeability coefficient of soil–rock mixtures using the numerical manifold method

Abstract

The present study extends the numerical manifold method to investigate the effective permeability coefficient (keff) of soil–rock mixtures. The influence of rock content, rock size, rock shape, and rock blocks' major axis direction on keff is studied. The results show the following: (1) keff decreases as the rock content increases; (2) the influence of rock size on keff can be neglected if other parameters are fixed; (3) the values of keff are nearly the same if rock blocks are in circular or regular hexagon shapes; and (4) the major axis direction of rock blocks has some influence on keff.