Effect of wetting on pore structure of compacted fine-grained soils (original) (raw)

Pore structure of fine-grained soils can be affected by wetting and drying cycles. The flow of water in vertical and lateral directions occurs through the pores in these soils. However, redistribution of these pores due to wetting and drying could affect the hydraulic conductivity of fine-grained soils. The purpose of this study is to investigate the change in soil structure before and after the wetting at the microscopic level. Compacted samples prepared from two natural clay-rich deposits which are widely used as landfill liner material were subjected to wetting. Specimens were taken from these samples before and after wetting for Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) observations. It was found that wetting influenced the pore structure of both fine-grained soils and this may be attributed to the change in hydraulic conductivity of the landfill barrier layers.