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Electrical‐hydraulic relationships observed for unconsolidated sediments
Author(s) -
Slater Lee,
Lesmes David P.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/2001wr001075
Subject(s) - grain size , hydraulic conductivity , porosity , mineralogy , soil science , geology , electrical resistivity and conductivity , range (aeronautics) , volume (thermodynamics) , conductivity , type (biology) , geotechnical engineering , materials science , geomorphology , thermodynamics , composite material , soil water , chemistry , physics , paleontology , quantum mechanics
We use complex conductivity measurements to predict the hydraulic conductivity ( K ) of unconsolidated materials. The samples include natural sediments and artificial sand/clay mixtures. We apply the Börner et al. [1996] model, which is based on the Kozeny‐Carman equation and incorporates electrical estimates of formation factor ( F ) and specific surface area per unit volume‐to‐porosity ratio ( S por ), from the real (σ′) and imaginary (σ″) conductivity components respectively. We find that K correlates with σ″ but shows no correlation with F , which we attribute to the wide range in grain size for these materials. The Börner model appears primarily dependent on the K ‐ σ″ relation. The relationship between σ″ and S por is nonlinear and appears to depend upon material type. Further examination shows that σ″ is well correlated with effective grain size ( d 10 ) and is relatively independent of the material type. We propose a simple Hazen‐type equation in which the effective grain size is estimated from σ″. This simple model provides order of magnitude estimates of K for a range of unconsolidated sediments.