Hydraulic conductivity variation of coarse-fine soil mixture upon mixing ratio

Abstract

This paper presents the theoretical and experimental investigations of the hydraulic conductivity variation of the soil mixture that contains two distinct particle size distributions, coarse and fine soils. A new model for the hydraulic conductivity is introduced that focuses on the relationship between the coarse-fine soil mixing ratio and the hydraulic conductivity of the mixture. For the model verification, permeability tests were conducted. The glass beads and quality-controlled standard sand and soils obtained from fields were used for the specimen. The experiment results showed that the hydraulic conductivity of the soil mixture strongly depends on the mixing ratio. As the amount of the coarse soil contained in the fine soil increased, the hydraulic conductivity of the mixture decreased from that for the fine soil until the critical mixing ratio. This ratio is defined as the fine soils perfectly fill the voids between the coarse soils without remains. When the ratio is greater than the critical mixing ratio, the hydraulic conductivity is drastically increased with the mixing ratio up to that of the coarse soil. The comparison between the computed values and the test results shows that the introduced model successfully describes the measurements.