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Estimating the hydraulic conductivity of slowly permeable and swelling materials from single‐ring experiments
Author(s) -
GérardMarchant P.,
AnguloJaramillo R.,
Haverkamp R.,
Vauclin M.,
Groenevelt P.,
Elrick D. E.
Publication year - 1997
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 - 10.1029/97wr00616
Subject(s) - hydraulic conductivity , sorptivity , geotechnical engineering , geotechnics , permeability (electromagnetism) , hydraulic head , soil water , swelling , porosity , infiltration (hvac) , porous medium , pressure head , soil science , materials science , geology , environmental science , engineering , composite material , mechanical engineering , chemistry , biochemistry , membrane
The in situ determination of the field‐saturated hydraulic conductivity of low‐permeability porous materials is a major concern for both geotechnics and soil physics with regards to environmental protection or water resources management. Recent early‐time single‐ring infiltration experiments, involving sequential constant head and falling head conditions, allow its efficient estimation. Nevertheless, the theory on which the interpretation was based was still strictly valid to nondeformable soils and implicity relied on a particular form of the hydraulic conductivity‐soil water pressure head relationship. This theory is now extended to deformable materials, without any restrictive hypothesis. A new concept, bulk sorptivity, which characterizes the solid phase movement, is introduced. Field experiments, conducted on two liners of swelling and slowly permeable materials, revealed that neglecting the soil deformation induces an underestimation of the actual coefficient of permeability of the soil.