Geotechnical Properties of a New Transparent Clay
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 20, Issue 12
Abstract
This paper presents a study of the mechanical properties of a synthetic transparent clay to be used in physical geotechnical models. The manufacturing processes of a synthetic transparent clay consisting of Carbopol polymers, NaOH powder, and distilled water were briefly introduced. The transparency of the synthetic transparent clay influenced by the sample thickness and the mixture of Carbopol materials was assessed by the modulation transfer function (MTF) method. For the synthetic transparent clay with the 0.75% Carbopol material mixture, the clear visible depth was approximately 30–40 cm. The geotechnical properties of the clay with this mixture were measured in detail. The permeability (permeability test) and thermal conductivity (thermal conductivity test) of the synthetic transparent clay with a specific U10 mixture were 5.3 × 10−7 cm/s and 0.62–0.72 W · M−1 · K−1, respectively. These analyses demonstrated that synthetic transparent clay exhibits macroscopic geotechnical properties comparable to those of very soft clay and could be used to simulate submarine landslides.
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Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge financial support from the National Science Foundation of China (No. 51639002).
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- av
- coefficient of compression;
- Ca
- secondary compression index;
- Ck
- permeability of soil;
- Cv
- coefficient of consolidation;
- Es
- one-dimensional compression modulus;
- e
- void ratio;
- e0
- initial void ratio;
- Imax(I)
- maximum intensity in captured images;
- Imax(o)
- maximum intensity of an actual object;
- Imin(I)
- minimum intensity in captured images;
- Imin(o)
- minimum intensity of an actual object;
- k
- permeability coefficient;
- lp/mm
- line pairs per millimeter;
- m
- mass of materials; and
- pressure applied on the soil.
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 20 • Issue 12 • December 2020
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 11, 2019
Accepted: Aug 6, 2020
Published online: Oct 8, 2020
Published in print: Dec 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Mar 8, 2021
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