Title: On the influence of the spatial distribution of fine content in the hydraulic conductivity of sand-clay mixtures
Abstract:Sand-clay mixtures are one of the most usual types of soils in geotechnical engineering. These soils present a hydraulic conductivity which highly depends on the fine content. In this work, it will be...Sand-clay mixtures are one of the most usual types of soils in geotechnical engineering. These soils present a hydraulic conductivity which highly depends on the fine content. In this work, it will be shown, that not only the mean fine content of a soil sample affects its hydraulic conductivity, but also its spatial distribution within the sample. For this purpose, a set of hydraulic conductivity tests with sand-clay mixtures have been conducted to propose an empirical relation of the hydraulic conductivity depending on the fine content. Then, a numerical model of a large scaled hydraulic conductivity test is constructed. In this model, the heterogeneity of the fine content is simulated following a Gaussian distribution. The equivalent hydraulic conductivity resulting of the whole model is then computed and the influence of the spatial distribution of the fine content is evaluated. The results indicate that the hydraulic conductivity is not only related to the mean fine content, but also on its heterogeneity.Read More