Behavior of Natural Fine Soil Particle Dispersions in Nonaqueous-Phase Liquids
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 2
Abstract
Understanding and quantifying particle–fluid interaction (PFI) is of fundamental importance for such geoenvironmental issues as polluted soil behavior, transport of organic contaminants in porous media, and the behavior of slurries in contact with nonaqueous-phase liquids (NAPLs). NAPLs have a very low dielectric permittivity in comparison with water, and therefore significant changes in soil properties can be expected as a consequence of PFI. This study evaluates interactions between soil particles and NAPLs using the rheology measurement of loess silt, zeolite, and bentonite particle concentrated dispersions. The dispersing liquids were kerosene, two paraffin oils with different viscosities, and deionized water (DIW) as a reference liquid. The results show the influence of the volumetric content of particles on the undrained shear strength of dispersions. The effects of suspending fluid viscosity and the magnitude of PFI were analyzed in a novel way by comparing the volume of particles for which the dispersion presents an undrained shear stress of 1 Pa determined for two different fluids. These results highlight the importance of PFI in the macroscopic properties of soils, hydraulic conductivity, and liquid limit.
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Data Availability Statement
All data from this study are available from the authors upon request. This includes worksheets with the raw data of shear stress versus shear rate data, shear stress versus volumetric content of solids and hydraulic conductivity, and liquid limit data for all tested specimens, used to create the figures and tables of this article.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) (Grant Nos. 11220150100298CO and PUE-49765) and the Secretaría de Ciencia y Técnica—Universidad Nacional de Córdoba SECyT-UNC (Grant No. 30720150100665CB). The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their very useful comments and suggestions that helped to improve this article.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 147 • Issue 2 • February 2021
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 22, 2020
Accepted: Oct 2, 2020
Published online: Dec 8, 2020
Published in print: Feb 1, 2021
Discussion open until: May 8, 2021
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