Premium
THE EFFECT OF HYSTERESIS OF PORE‐WATER ON THE HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY
Author(s) -
POULOVASSILIS A.
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
journal of soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.244
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2389
pISSN - 0022-4588
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2389.1969.tb01553.x
Subject(s) - wetting , hydraulic conductivity , hysteresis , conductivity , volume (thermodynamics) , volume fraction , porosity , materials science , thermodynamics , chemistry , composite material , soil science , soil water , condensed matter physics , geology , physics
Summary It is pointed out with the help of the Independent Domain Theory, that a fraction of the pore‐water constituting a volume Δ V is contained in pores not common to both the wetting and drying states and that this volume in a wetting state is contained in pores whose draining radii are greater than those of the pores containing the water volume Δ V in the drying state. On the above basis it is suggested that hysteresis may affect the hydraulic conductivity: firstly, through differences of the radii of the pores containing the water volume Δ V , which tend to endow a wetting state with a conductivity greater than that of an equally wet but drying state; secondly, through differences of the coordinates of the above‐mentioned pores, which may influence the paths of flow and consequently the hydraulic conductivity, and will have either a similar or opposite effect. It is concluded, therefore, that the conductivity in the wetting state can be greater, equal, or even less than that in the drying state, depending on the particular porous body.