Soil suction and soil-water potentials in swelling clays in engineered calys barriers

摘要

This paper is concerned with the interactionsresulting from water uptake by partly saturated swelling soils intheir role as liner material for engineered clay barriers. Theenergy status of the soil-water (i.e. pore-water) provides thefocus for the mechanistic view of the microstructure andmesostructure interactions that govern the development of those'matric' and 'osmotic' forces responsible for water uptake by theswelling soils. Central issues in the interactions developed are thegoverning roles played by the interlayer and interparticle forces inthe presence of water, and the need to differentiate between unitlayer separations, micropores and macropores in the articulationof void volumes or pore spaces. The matric and osmoticcomponents of soil suction and soil-water potential need to bedistinguished in respect to micro and meso-macro applications,particularly when interpretations of measured values are needed.