Effects of moisture content and dry bulk density on the thermal conductivity of compacted backfill soil

Soil backfilling and compaction are often involved in urban construction projects like the burying of power cables.The thermal conductance of backfill soil is therefore of great interest.To investigate the thermal conductivity variation of compacted backfill soil,10 typical soils sampled in Zhejiang Province of China with moisture contents of 0%–25%were fully compacted according to the Proctor compaction test method and then subjected to thermal conductivity measurement using the thermal probe method at 20℃.The particle size distribution and the chemical composition of the soil samples were characterized to analyze their effects on thermal conductivity.The results showed that the maximum thermal conductivity of fully compacted soils generally exceeds 1.9 W/(m·K)and is 20%–50%higher than that of uncompacted soils.With increasing moisture content,soil thermal conductivity and dry bulk density first increase and then remain unchanged or decrease slowly;the critical moisture content is greater than 20%in most cases.Overall,the critical moisture content of soils with large particle size is lower than that of those with small particle size.Quartz has the highest thermal conductivity in the soil solid phase,and the mass percentage of quartz for most soils in this study is more than 50%,while that for yellow soil is less than 30%,which leads to the thermal conductivity of the former being nearly twice as great as that of the latter in most circumstances.Based on regression analysis,with moisture content and dry bulk density as the independent parameters,the prediction formulae for the thermal conductivity of two categories of compacted backfill soils are proposed for practical applications.

A brief introduction to recent applications of several sediment-analysis techniques in palaeolimnological studies-dry bulk density and water content, mineral magnetism, carbonate content, and content of total organic carbon,nitrogen content and carbon/nitrogen ratio

Determination of dry bulk density and water content measurement of magnetic susceptibility (x) and saturation isothermal remanent magnetization (SIRM), determination of carbonate content, and determination of total organic carbon (TOC) content nitrogen content (N%) and carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio are some of the techniques which have been widely applied to lacustrine-sediment analyses. The techniques,complemented by others, are usually useful for revealing characteristics of lacustrine-sediments and thus for postulating hydrological regimes in the lake and environmental conditions and human activity around it in palaeolimnological studies. A very brief review is presented on recent applications of these techniques in palaeolimnological work with English literatures published mainly since 1985 and focus given on interpretations of results of these analyses related to palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. Low dry bulk density and high water content often imply relatively warm and wet conditions. High X and SIRM are usually resulted from reduced dilutions in the lake and intensified erosions on its catchment. both of which can be in turn attributed to environmental changes. While variations in patterns of X and SIRM may give further insight on mineral magnetism and thus implications on environmental conditions. Increased carbonate content seems likely to associate to warm and dry conditions.Increased TOC content is virtually used as one of indicators of warm and wet conditions and variations in C/N ratio may hint variations in relative contributions of different sources, aquatic and terrestrial, to the total organic matter in lake sediments and hence to lake-level fluctuations and climate changes.

Study of Soil-Water Characteristic Curve Using Microscopic Spherical Particle Model

When variations occur in the water content or dry bulk density of soil,the contact angle hysteresis will affect the soil-water characteristic curve(SWCC).The occurrence of the contact angle hysteresis can be divided into slipping and pinning.It is difficult to determine the effect of pinning existence on SWCC by tests.In this study,the effect of contact angle hysteresis on SWCC was analyzed either in the case of no variations in soil dry bulk density with changes in soil water content or no variations in soil water content with changes in soil dry bulk density.In both cases,soil particles were simplified to the spherical particle model.Based on the geometrically mechanic relationship between the particles and connecting liquid bridges,a physical model for predicting the SWCC was derived from the spherical particle model.Adjusting parameters made the model applicable to various soils,that is,the cohesive soil was considered as micron-sized spherical particles.Through the simulations on SWCC test data of sand,silt,clay,and swelling soil,it was confirmed that the physical model possessed good reliability and practicability.Finally,the analysis of rationality of contact angle was performed based on the basic assumptions of the model.