Membrane behavior of clay liner materials
Date
2008
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Abstract
Membrane behavior represents the ability of porous media to restrict the migration of solutes, leading to the existence of chemico-osmosis, or the flow of liquid in response to a chemical concentration gradient. Membrane behavior is an important consideration with respect to clay soils with small pores and interactive electric diffuse double layers associated with individual particles, such as bentonite. The results of recent studies indicate the existence of membrane behavior in bentonite-based hydraulic barriers used in waste containment applications. Thus, measurement of the existence and magnitude of membrane behavior in such clay soils is becoming increasingly important. Accordingly, this research focused on evaluating the existence and magnitude of membrane behavior for three clay-based materials that typically are considered for use as liners for waste containment applications, such as landfills. The three clay-based liner materials included a commercially available geosynthetic clay liner (GCL) consisting of sodium bentonite sandwiched between two geotextiles, a compacted natural clay known locally as Nelson Farm Clay, and compacted NFC amended with 5% (dry wt.) of a sodium bentonite. The study also included the development and evaluation of a new flexible-wall cell for clay membrane testing that was used subsequently to measure the membrane behaviors of the three clay liner materials. The consolidation behavior of the GCL under isotropic states of stress also was evaluated as a preliminary step in the determination of the membrane behavior of the GCL under different effective consolidation stresses.
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Subject
chemico-osmosis
compacted clay liners
geosynthetic clay liners
membrane behavior
membrane efficiency coefficients
sodium bentonite
civil engineering
environmental engineering
materials science