Percolation Behavior of Soft Clay under Vacuum Suction
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 24, Issue 8
Abstract
The clogging induced by particle transport is often mentioned in the practice of vacuum preloading, but the percolation behavior of soft clay under negative pressure is still not clear. To understand this, the percolation behavior was investigated using an artificial paste of silica sand and kaolinite under different hydraulic pressures. The hydraulic conductivity under positive pressure (90 kPa) was about twice as high as that of negative pressure (−90 kPa). However, the transport capacity and leached particle size under negative pressure were more significant than those under positive pressure, despite the same tendency of the porosity under the positive or negative pressure. This is an interesting and paradoxical finding, suggesting complexity accompanying the erosion and clogging under the nominal hydraulic gradient, where a higher concentration of the hydraulic gradient occurs under negative pressure. The percolation under negative pressure––a self-adaptive process––included three elements: (1) the colloidal transport of clay minerals; (2) colloid accumulation and clogging in the seepage channel close to the outlet; and (3) a gradient concentration close to the outlet.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request.
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the Key Technologies Research and Development Program (2021YFC3090301), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 42072293 and 52278334), and the Postgraduate Research and Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. KYCX20_0120).
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 24 • Issue 8 • August 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 23, 2023
Accepted: Jan 31, 2024
Published online: May 29, 2024
Published in print: Aug 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Oct 29, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Chemical processes
- Chemistry
- Clays
- Colloids
- Continuum mechanics
- Dynamics (solid mechanics)
- Engineering mechanics
- Environmental engineering
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Groundwater
- Hydraulic engineering
- Hydraulic pressure
- Hydraulic properties
- Percolation
- Pore pressure
- Pressure (type)
- Soil dynamics
- Soil mechanics
- Soil pressure
- Soil properties
- Soils (by type)
- Solid mechanics
- Water (by type)
- Water and water resources
- Water management
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