Title: Porosity and Permeability in Sediment Mixtures
Abstract: GroundwaterVolume 46, Issue 6 p. 794-795 Free Access Porosity and Permeability in Sediment Mixtures Robert P. Chapuis, Corresponding Author Robert P. Chapuis Department CGM, École Polytechnique de Montréal, P.O. Box 6079, Sta. CV, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3C 3A7; (514) 340-4711 ext. 4427; fax: (514) 340-4477; [email protected] for more papers by this authorMichel Aubertin, Michel Aubertin Department CGM, École Polytechnique de Montréal, P.O. Box 6079, Sta. CV, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3C 3A7Search for more papers by this author Robert P. Chapuis, Corresponding Author Robert P. Chapuis Department CGM, École Polytechnique de Montréal, P.O. Box 6079, Sta. CV, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3C 3A7; (514) 340-4711 ext. 4427; fax: (514) 340-4477; [email protected] for more papers by this authorMichel Aubertin, Michel Aubertin Department CGM, École Polytechnique de Montréal, P.O. Box 6079, Sta. CV, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3C 3A7Search for more papers by this author First published: 23 October 2008 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6584.2008.00470_1.xCitations: 1AboutSectionsPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Christopher Neuzil, Discussion Editor "Porosity and Permeability in Sediment Mixtures," by Patrick J. Kamann, Robert W. Ritzi, David F. Dominic, and Caleb M. Conrad, July–August 2007 issue, v. 45, no. 4: 429–438. Kamann et al. (2007) address a very interesting and important topic. However, the presentation missed certain key references and concepts related to porosity and permeability of mixtures. The paper appears to convey the idea that a granular material has a unique porosity. However, even with equal spheres, porosity can range from a minimum of about 26% for simple cubic packing to a maximum of nearly 48% for hexagonal packing (e.g., Smith et al. 1929). The porosity is also strongly related to various physical properties such as elastic modulus, shear strength, and more generally stress-strain behavior. The relationships between the grain-size distribution curve and the associated range of porosity values have long been studied in many areas for binary, ternary, and multimodal mixtures (e.g., Furnas 1928; Burmister 1938; Hutchinson and Townsend 1961; Epstein and Young 1962; Lees 1970; Peronius and Sweeting 1985; Yu et al. 1993; Yu and Zou 1997; Rassouly 1999; Liu and Ha 2002). The Kamann et al. results should be modified to take into account a range of porosity (minimum and maximum values) that depends on the densification energy (i.e., natural or imposed stress state). The extreme values of porosity can be obtained using detailed procedures defined in commonly used standards (American Society of Testing and Materials 2007a, 2007b). In the paper, the preparation method does not appear to follow a specific standard; at least, it is not sufficiently described to be reproduced by others. With reference to prior research work, the authors could have mentioned that (1) the porosity range of a binary mixture depends on the size ratio and the percentage of each component; (2) the porosity of a sediment mixture for a given preparation and placement (compaction) mode cannot be obtained by a linear combination of the porosity of the mixture components for the same preparation and placement mode; and (3) the average grain diameter does not determine the range of porosity values. The latter can nonetheless be predicted using various characteristics of the grain-size distribution and the particle shape and roughness. When dealing with mixtures (and materials with a widely distributed grain size), it is also important to recognize conditions that produce segregation. It is unfortunate that the paper also omitted a large number of studies that have investigated means to predict the permeability of binary and multimodal mixtures (e.g., Leitzelement et al. 1985; Chapuis 2002). For clarifying the confusion around the Kozeny-Carman equation, one may refer to Chapuis and Aubertin (2003, 2004). For linking the predictive equations of Hazen and Kozeny-Carman, the reader may refer to Mbonimpa et al. (2002), Chapuis (2004), and Aubertin et al. (2005). Finally, it is worth mentioning that, since 1989, many scientific associations working on particle packing have gathered at the International Conferences on Micromechanics of Granular Media to avoid the lack of communication that had resulted in "replicated effort in learning the same basic principles over and over" (German 1989). References American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM). 2007a. D 4253 Test methods for maximum index density and unit weight of soils using a vibratory table. In Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol. 04.08. West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania: ASTM. American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM). 2007b. D 4254 Test methods for minimum index density of soils and calculation of relative density. In Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol. 04.08. West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania: ASTM. Aubertin, M., R.P. Chapuis, and M. Mbonimpa. 2005. Goodbye Hazen; Hello, Kozeny-Carman: Discussion. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering 131, no. 8: 1056– 1057. Burmister, D.M. 1938. The grading-density relations of granular materials. Proceedings ASTM 38, part 2: 587– 596. Chapuis, R.P. 2004. Predicting the saturated hydraulic conductivity of sand and gravel using effective diameter and void ratio. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 41, no. 5: 787– 795. Chapuis, R.P. 2002. The 2000 R.M. Hardy Lecture: Full-scale hydraulic performance of soil-bentonite and compacted clay liners. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 39 no. 2: 417– 439. Chapuis, R.P., and M. Aubertin. 2004. On the use of the Kozeny-Carman's equation to predict the hydraulic conductivity of soils: Reply. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 41, no. 5: 994– 996. Chapuis, R.P., and M. Aubertin. 2003. On the use of the Kozeny-Carman's equation to predict the hydraulic conductivity of soils. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 40, no. 3: 616– 628. Epstein, N., and M.J. Young. 1962. Random loose packing of binary mixtures of spheres. Nature 196, December 1: 885– 886. Furnas, C.C. 1928. Relations between specific volume, voids and size composition in systems of broken solids of mixed sizes. Bureau of Mines, Report of Investigations 2894, 1– 10. German, R.M. 1989. Particle Packing Characteristics. Princeton, New Jersey: Metal Powder Industries Federation. Hutchinson, B., and D. Townsend. 1961. Some grading-density relationships for sands. In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Paris, vol. 1, Paris, France: Dunod, pp. 159– 163. Kamann, P.J., R.W. Ritzi, D.F. Dominic, and C.M. Conrad. 2007. Porosity and permeability in sediment mixtures. Ground Water 45, no. 4: 429– 438. Lees, G. 1970. The rational design of aggregate gradings for dense asphaltic compositions. In Proceedings of Asphalt Paving Technologies, Kansas City, Missouri: APT, vol. 39, 60– 90. Leitzelement, M., C.S. Lo, and J.A. Dodds. 1985. Porosity and permeability of ternary mixtures of particles. Powder Technology 41, no. 2: 159– 164. Liu, S., and Z. Ha. 2002. Prediction of random packing limit for multimodal particle mixtures. Powder Technology 126, no. 3: 283– 296. Mbonimpa, M., M. Aubertin, R.P. Chapuis, and B. Bussière. 2002. Practical pedotransfer functions for estimating the saturated hydraulic conductivity. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering 20, no. 3: 235– 259. Peronius, N., and T.J. Sweeting. 1985. On the correlation of minimum porosity with particle size distribution. Powder Technology 42, no. 2: 113– 121. Rassouly, S.M.K. 1999. The packing density of "perfect" binary mixtures. Powder Technology 103, no. 2: 145– 150. Smith, W.O., P.D. Foot, and P.F. Busang. 1929. Packing of homogeneous spheres. Physical Review 34, no. 9: 1271– 1274. Yu, A.B., and Z.P. Zou. 1997. Porosity calculation of particle mixtures: an overview. Proceedings of the 1997 TMS Annual Meeting, Orlando, Florida, USA, 9–13 February, 237– 256. Warrendale, Pennsylvania: Metals & Materials Society. Yu, A.B., N. Standish, and A. McLean. 1993. Porosity calculation of binary mixtures of nonspherical particles. Journal of the American Ceramic Society 76, no. 11: 2813– 2816. Footnotes Note: Comment received December 7, 2007, accepted January 18, 2008. Citing Literature Volume46, Issue6November–December 2008Pages 794-795 ReferencesRelatedInformation
Publication Year: 2008
Publication Date: 2008-07-24
Language: en
Type: letter
Indexed In: ['crossref', 'pubmed']
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Cited By Count: 10
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