Ohmic Conductivity of a Compacted Silty Clay
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 128, Issue 10
Abstract
In its natural state, loess can be considered as an unstable soil, which develops large deformations when moistened. In Argentina, loess is used in most Geotechnical constructions, including embankments and liners. The interest of this work to evaluate the potential application of electrical conductivity measurements for monitoring the effects introduced by remolding and compaction in the soil. Samples of loess were compacted at varied densities and mixed with electrolytes of different concentrations. Electrical conductivity was measured with a two electrode cell. The effects introduced on the measured conductivity by frequency, degree of saturation, soil density, temperature, and electrolyte type and concentration are addressed. Additionally, hydraulic permeability tests were performed on compacted specimens of loess and the relationship between electrical and hydraulic conductivity was determined. It is concluded here that the ohmic conductivity of compacted specimens depends mainly on the salt concentration in the pore fluid, and volumetric water content. The effect of compaction density was observed to be less significant. The whole behavior of electric conductivity of loess is well described by the Archie’s law.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Abu-Hassanein, Z., Benson, C., and Blotz, L.(1996). “Electrical resistivity of compacted clays.” J. Geotech. Geoenv. Eng., 122(5), 397–406.
Aitchinson, G. D. (1973). “Structurally unstable soils; state of the art.” Proc., 8th Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering (ICSMFE), Moscu, URSS, 3, 161–190.
Arulanandan, K., and Defalias, Y. F.(1979). “Significance of formation factor in sand structure characterization.” Lett. Appl. Eng. Sci., 17, 109–112.
ASTM. (1991). “Annual book of ASTM standards.” Soil and rocks; dimension stone; geosynthetics, Section 4: Construction, Vol. 0408, American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia.
Benson, C., Zhai, H., and Wang, X.(1994). “Estimating hydraulic conductivity of compacted clays.” ASCE J. Geotech. Eng., 120(2), 366–387.
Campbell, M. J., and Ulrichs, J.(1969). “Electric properties of rocks and their significance for lunar radar observation.” J. Geophys. Res., 74(25), 5867–5881.
Campanella, R. G., and Weemes, I.(1990). “Development and use of an electrical resistivity cone for groundwater contamination studies.” Can. Geotech. J., 27, 557–567.
Daniel, D. E. (1990). “Summary review of construction quality control for compacted soil liners.” Proc., Waste Containment Systems: Construction, Regulation, and Performance, 175–189.
de Loor, P. G.(1983). “Dielectric properties of wet materials.” IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 21(33), 364–369.
Dias, C. A.(1972). “Analytical model for a polarizable medium at radio and lower frequencies.” J. Geophys. Res., 77(26), 4945–4956.
Kalinski, R. J., and Kelly, W. E.(1994). “Electrical-resistivity measurement for evaluating compacted-soil liners.” J. Geotech. Eng., 120(2), 451–457.
Keller, G. (1982). “Electrical properties of rocks and minerals.” CRC handbook of physical properties of rocks, R. S. Carmichel, ed., 1, 217–293.
Keller, G. V. and Licastro P. H. (1959). “Dielectric constant and dielectric resistivity of natural-state corps.” Bull. Nos. 1052–1053, U.S. Geological Survey, 257–285.
Knight, R.(1991). “Hysteresis in the electrical resistivity of partially saturated sandstones.” Geophysics, 56(12), 2139–2147.
Knight, R. J., and Nur, A.(1987). “The Dielectric constant of sandstones, 60 KHz to 4 MHz.” Geophysics, 52(5), 644–654.
Lambe T. W., and Whitman R. V. (1969). Soil mechanics, Wiley, New York.
Lyklema, J., Dukhin, S. S., and Shilov, V. N.(1983). “The relaxation of the double layer around colloidal particles and the low frequency dielectric dispersion.” J. Electroanal. Chem. Interfacial Electrochem., 143, 1–21.
Marsal, R. (1979). “Análisis de conocimientos sobre suelos cohesivos compactados.” Proc., 6th Panamerican Conf., on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Lima, Peru, 1, 143–222.
McCarter, W. J.(1984). “The Electrical resistivity characteristics of compacted clay.” Geotechnique, 34(2), 263–267.
Mitchell, J. K., and Arulanandan, K.(1968). “Electrical dispersion in relation to soil structure.” J. Mech. Found. Div., ASCE, 94, 447–471.
Mitchell, J. K. (1993). Fundamentals of soil behavior, Wiley, New York.
Moll, L., and Rocca, R. (1991). “Properties of loess in the center of Argentina.” Proc., 9th Panamerican Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundations Engineering, Chile, 1.
O’Konski, C. T.(1959). “Electric properties of macromolecules vs. theory of ionic polarization in polyelectrolytes.” J. Phys. Chem., 64, 605.
Parkhomenko, E. I. (1967). Electrical properties of rocks, Plenum, New York.
Raistrick, I. D., Macdonald, J. R., and Franceschetti, D. R. (1987). Impedance spectroscopy emphasizing solid materials and systems. J. R. Macdonald, ed., Dept. Physics and Astronomy, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Reginatto, A. R., and Ferrero, J. C. (1973). “Collapse potential of soils and sol-water chemistry.” Proc., 8th Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering (ICSMFE), Moscu, URSS, 2, 177–183.
Rinaldi, V. A. (1994). “Propiedades dielectricas del loess del centro de argentina.” PhD dissertation, National Univ. of Cordoba, Argentina.
Rinaldi, V. A., and Francisca, F. M.(1999). “Impedance analysis of soil dielectric dispersion (1 MHz–1 GHz).” J. Geotech. Geoenv. Eng., 125(2), 111–121.
Rocca, R. J. (1989). “Review of properties of loess soils.” CE 299 Rep., Univ. of California, Berkeley, Calif.
Schurr, J. M.(1964). “On the theory of dielectric dispersion of spherical particles in electrolyte solution.” J. Phys. Chem., 64, 2407–2413.
Schwarz, G.(1962). “A Theory of the low-frequency dielectric dispersion of colloidal particles in electrolyte solution.” J. Phys. Chem., 66, 2636.
Seed, B. H., Mitchell, J. K., and Chan, C. K. (1960). “Strength of compacted cohesive soils.” Proc., ASCE Research Conf. on Shear Strength of Cohesive Soils, Denver.
Sen, P. N.(1987). “Electrolytic conduction past arrays of charging insulating spheres.” J. Chem. Phys., 87(7), 4100–4107.
Sen, P. N., Godee, P. A., and Sibbit, A.(1988). “Electrical conduction in clay bearing sandstones at low and high salinities.” J. Appl. Phys., 63(10), 4832–4840.
Sen, P. N.(1997). “Resistivity of partially saturated rocks with microporosity.” Geophysics, 62(2), 415–425.
Shang, J. Q., Lo, K. Y., and Inculet, I. I.(1995). “Polarization and conduction of clay-water electrolyte systems.” J. Geotech. Eng., 121(3), 243–248.
Shaw, D. J. (1970). Introduction to colloid and surface chemistry, 2nd Ed., Butterworth & Co. Ltd., London.
Smith-Rose, R. L.(1933). “The Electrical properties of soils for alternating currents at radiofrequencies.” Proc. R. Soc. London, 140(841A), 359–377.
Smith-Rose, R. L.(1935). “The Electrical properties of soils at frequencies up to 100 megacyclesper second; with a note on the resistivity of ground in the United Kingdom.” Proc. Phys. Soc. London, 47(262), 923–931.
Teruggi, M. E.(1957). “The nature and origin of Argentine loess.” J. Sediment. Petrol., 27, 10–27.
Von Hippel, A. R. (1954). Dielectric materials and applications, Technology Press of MIT and Wiley, New York.
Zhou, D., Arbabi, S., and Stenby, E.(1997). “A percolation study of wettability effect on the electrical properties of reservoir rocks.” Transp. Porous Media, 29(1), 85–98.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 128 • Issue 10 • October 2002
Pages: 824 - 835
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 29, 2000
Accepted: Feb 6, 2002
Published online: Sep 13, 2002
Published in print: Oct 2002
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.