Development of Cone Penetrometer Method to Determine Soil Hydraulic Properties
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 124, Issue 9
Abstract
Effective cleanup of contaminated sites requires characterization of the hydraulic properties of impacted soils. To this end, we present a new method for estimating soil-water characteristic and hydraulic conductivity curves with a modified cone penetrometer. A prototype has been designed and fabricated with a screen close to the penetrometer tip and two tensiometer rings 5 and 9 cm above the screen. Water is injected into the soil under constant pressure. The volume of water imbibed into the soil is monitored, as are the tensiometer ring readings registering the advancement of the wetting front. These transient flow data are used to estimate soil hydraulic properties via numerical inversion of Richards' equation. We present the results of cone tests performed under variably saturated conditions in a laboratory aquifer system. Results are compared with independent measurements of the soil hydraulic properties to benchmark the performance of the instrument and method of analysis. The saturated hydraulic conductivity of the soil is well predicted by the method for saturated and unsaturated conditions. Further work is required to obtain good estimates of the other parameters describing the hydraulic properties of the soil.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Benson, C. H., and Gribb, M. M. (1997). “Measuring unsaturated hydraulic conductivity in the laboratory and field.”Unsaturated soil engineering practice, Geotech. Spec. Publ. No. 68, S. L. Houston and D. G. Fredlund, eds., American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, N.Y., 113–168.
2.
Bouwer, H., and Jackson, R. D. (1974). “Determining soil properties.”Drainage for agriculture, American Society of Agronomy, Madison, Wis., 611–672.
3.
Bouwer, H., and Rice, R. C.(1976). “A slug test for determining hydraulic conductivity of unconfined aquifers with completely or partially penetrating wells.”Water Resour. Res., 12(3), 423–428.
4.
Campanella, R. G., and Robertson, P. K. (1988). “Current status of the piezocone test.”Penetration testing 1988, ISOPT-1, A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 93–116.
5.
Dane, J. H., and Hruska, S. (1983). “In-situ determination of soil hydraulic properties during drainage.”Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 47(4), 619– 624.
6.
Dayton, D., and Holmes, R. (1993). “A moisture sensing cone penetrometer.”Proc. of the Ohio Buried Valley Aquifer Mgmt. Sys. Evaluation Area Colloquim, N. L. Watermeier, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
7.
Eching, S. O., and Hopmans, J. W.(1993). “Optimization of hydraulic functions from transient outflow and soil water pressure data.”Soil Sci. Soc. of Am., 57(5), 11167–11175.
8.
Gribb, M. M. (1993). “At depth determination of hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated porous media via analysis of transient flow data,” PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wis.
9.
Gribb, M. M.(1996). “Parameter estimation for determining hydraulic properties of a fine sand from transient flow measurements.”Water Resour. Res., 32(7), 1965–1974.
10.
Hvorslev, M. J. (1951). “Time lag and soil permeability in ground-water observations.”WES Bull. No. 36, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, Miss.
11.
Inoue, M., Šimůnek, J., Hopmans, J. W., and Clausnitzer, V.(1998). “In-situ estimation of soil hydraulic functions using a multi-step soil-water extraction technique.”Water Resour. Res., 34(5), 1035–1050.
12.
IOtech, Inc. (1994). DaqBook user's manual. Part #232-0920, Revision 2.3, IOtech, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
13.
Klute, A., and Dirksen, C. (1986). “Hydraulic conductivity and diffusivity: Laboratory methods.”Methods of soil analysis, Part 1, physical and mineralogical methods, 2nd Ed., A. Klute, ed., Soil Science Society of America, Madison, Wis., 687–729.
14.
Kodešová, R., Gribb, M. M., and Šimůnek, J. (1998a). “A new CPT method for estimating soil hydraulic properties.”Proc. Int. Site Characterization Conf., Vol. 2, P. K. Robertson and P. W. Mayne, eds., A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1421–1425.
15.
Kodešová, R., Gribb, M. M., and Šimůnek, J.(1998b). “Estimating soil hydraulic properties from transient cone permeameter data.”Soil Sci., 163(6), 436–453.
16.
Kool, J. B., Parker, J. C., and van Genuchten, M. T.(1985). “Determining soil hydraulic properties from one step outflow experiments by parameter estimation: I. Theory and numerical studies.”Soils Sci. Soc. Am. J., 49, 1348–1354.
17.
Kool, J. B., Parker, J. C., and van Genuchten, M. T.(1987). “Parameter estimation for unsaturated flow and transport models—a review.”J. Hydro., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 91, 255–293.
18.
Laboratory Technologies Corp. (1994). Labtech windows user's guide, 4/94 release. Laboratories Technologies Corp., Wilmington, Mass.
19.
Lambe, W. T.(1951). “Capillary phenomena in cohesionless soils.”Trans. Am. Soc. Civ. Engrs., ASCE, 116, 401–423.
20.
Leonard, M. F. (1997). “Design and laboratory evaluation of a cone permeameter for unsaturated soil hydraulic parameter determination,” MS thesis, University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C.
21.
Mualem, Y.(1976). “A new model for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated porous media.”Water Resour. Res., 12, 513–522.
22.
Omega Technologies Company (OTC). (1994). PX236 series pressure transducers, operator's manual: M0236/0894. OTC, Stamford, Conn.
23.
Parker, J. C., Kool, J. B., and van Genuchten, M. T.(1985). “Determining soil properties from one-step outflow experiments by parameter estimation, II. Experimental studies.”Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 49, 1354–1359.
24.
Petsonk, A. M. (1985). “A device for in situ measurement of hydraulic conductivity.”Paper presented at Symp. on Adv. in Hydr. Testing and Tracer Methods, American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C.
25.
Press, W. H., Teukolsky, S. A., Vetterling, W. T., and Flannery, B. P. (1992). Numerical recipes in fortran: The art of scientific computing, 2nd Ed., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.
26.
Ray, R. P., and Morris, K. B.(1994). “Automated laboratory testing for soil/water characteristic curves.”Proc., 1st Int. Conf. on Unsaturated Soils, E. Alonso and P. Delage, eds., Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2, 236–241.
27.
Reynolds, W. D. (1993). “Unsaturated hydraulic conductivity: Field measurement.”Soil sampling and methods of analysis, M. R. Carter, ed., Canadian Society of Soil Science, Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, Fla., 633–644.
28.
Richards, L. A.(1931). “Capillary conduction of liquids through porous mediums.”Physics, 1, 318–333.
29.
Scaturo, D. M. (1993). “Evaluation of multi-level direct push sampling for hydraulic conductivity analysis,” MS thesis, University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C.
30.
Šimůnek, J., Sejna, M., and van Genuchten, M. T. (1996). HYDRU2D, simulation water flow and solute transport in two-dimensional variably saturated media. TPS 53, International Groundwater Modeling Center, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colo.
31.
Šimůnek, J., and van Genuchten, M. T.(1996). “Estimating unsaturated soil hydraulic properties from tension disk infiltrometer data by numerical inversion.”Water Resour. Res., 32(9), 2683–2696.
32.
Šimůnek, J., and van Genuchten, M. T.(1997). “Estimating unsaturated soil parameters from multiple tension disc infiltrometer data.”Soil Sci., 162(6), 383–398.
33.
Šimůnek, J., Wang, D., Shouse, P. J., and van Genuchten, M. T. (1998). “Analysis of a field tension disc infiltrometer experiment by parameter estimation.”Int. Agrophys., in press.
34.
Singleton, J. E. (1997). “Hydraulic characteristics of a laboratory aquifer,” MS thesis, University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C.
35.
Soilmoisture Corporation. (1989). 2100F operating instructions. Soilmoisture Corp., Santa Barbara, Calif. Standard test method for capillary-moisture relationships for coarse- and medium-textured soils by porous-plate method, D-2325, Vol. 4.08, Soil and Rock, Dimension Stone; Geosynthetics . (1994). ASTM, Philadelphia, Pa. Standard test method for permeability of granular soils (constant head); D-2334, Vol. 4.08, Soil and Rock; Dimension Stone; Geosynthetics . (1993). ASTM, Philadelphia, Pa.
36.
Topp, G. C., St.-Amour, G., and Compton, B. A. (1996). “Measuring cone resistance and water content with TDR-penetrometer combination.”Agronomy Abstracts, Soil Science Soc. of America, 191.
37.
van Dam, J. C., Stricker, N. M., and Droogers, P.(1992). “Inverse method for determining soil hydraulic functions from one-step outflow experiments.”Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 56, 1042–1050.
38.
van Dam, J. C., Stricker, N. M., and Droogers, P.(1994). “Inverse method to determine soil hydraulic functions from multi-step outflow experiments.”Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 58, 647–652.
39.
van Genuchten, M. T.(1980). “A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils.”Soil Sci. of Am. J., 44, 892–898.
40.
van Genuchten, M. T. (1981). “Non-equilibrium transport parameters from miscible displacement experiments.”Res. Rep. No. 119, U.S. Salinity Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Riverside, Calif.
41.
van Genuchten, M. T., Leij, F. J., and Yates, S. R. (1991). The RETC code for quantifying the hydraulic functions of unsaturated soils. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Ada, Okla.
42.
Wooding, R. A.(1968). “Steady infiltration from large shallow circular pond.”Water Resour. Res., 4, 1259–1273.
43.
Zachmann, D. W., Duchateau, P. C., and Klute, A.(1981). “Simultaneous approximation of water capacity and soil hydraulic conductivity by parameter identification.”Soil Sci., 134, 157–163.
44.
Znidarčić, D., Illangasekare, T., and Manna, M. (1991). “Laboratory testing and parameter estimation for two-phase flow problems.”Geotechnical engineering congress, F. G. McLean, D. A. Campbell, and D. W. Harris, eds., Geotech. Spec. Publ. No. 27, Vol. 1, ASCE, New York, N.Y.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Sep 1, 1998
Published in print: Sep 1998
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.