A novel technique for studying diffusion of contaminants in fine-grained soils

Abstract

Diffusion is one of the predominant contaminant transport mechanisms in fine-grained soils. Usually, conventional methods such as half-cell and column tests are adopted for establishing diffusion characteristics of such soils. However, these techniques are destructive in nature, quite time-consuming, and require cumbersome chemical analysis of the soil and its pore-solution. Hence, development of a technique that would overcome these limitations and would yield precise results, in extremely short duration, becomes essential. With this in view, a modified Perspex diffusion cell with provision for inserting a series of stainless steel electrodes has been fabricated to monitor the diffusive contaminant transport, indirectly, based on the variation of electrical impedance of the soil. An LCR meter is employed to measure the electrical impedance of the soil across each electrode over a period. Further, the electrical impedance variation is indirectly correlated to the diffusion of contaminants that occurs in the soil. Details of the study and the test setup developed for this purpose are presented in this paper. It has been demonstrated that the technique based on electrical impedance measurement is quite useful and efficient for establishing diffusion characteristics of the fine-grained soil.

Keywords:

• contaminant transport
• fine-grained soils
• diffusion characteristics
• impedance measurements
• laboratory investigations