Effects of leachate infiltration and desiccation cracks on hydraulic conductivity of compacted clay

Both cracks in clay liner and the complex composition of landfill leachate might have effects on the hydraulic conductivity of a compacted clay liner. In this study, the hydraulic conductivities of natural clay and bentonite-modified clay with and without desiccation cracks were measured, respectively, using three types of liquids as permeating liquid： 2 500 mg/L acetic acid solution, 0.5 mol/L CaCl2 solution, and tap water. When tap water was adopted as the permeating liquid, desiccation cracks resulted in increases in the average value of hydraulic conductivity： a 25-fold increase for the natural clay and a 5.7-fold increase for the bentonite-modified clay. It was also found out that the strong selfhealing capability of bentonite helped to reduce the adverse impact of cracks on hydraulic performance. In contrast to tap water, simulated leachates（acetic acid and CaCl2 solutions） show no adverse effect on the hydraulic conductivities of natural and bentonite-modified clays. It is concluded that desiccation cracks and bentonite have more significant effects on hydraulic performance than simulated leachates.

Study of Water Flow in a Single Clay Crack

A model has been constructed to study water flow in a single clay crack, and a new concept of the critical rise rate of water level in the crack has been put forward. When the water level rises faster than this critical rate, the flow in a crack will increase, and vice versa. The flow in a crack is not in proportion to the water level. The maximium water flow in clay is 30-40 times smaller than that in a rock fissure under the same condition. In the process of water discharge, the flow in a crack will lessen gradually, and the crack will grow narrower by 3.0-4.0cm, with its depth reducing by over 50%.

Water Requirements of Sugar Beet Beta vulgaris under Heavy Cracking Clay Soils

Crop coefficients （Kc） of sugar beet were determined for accurate calculation of water requirements （CWR） and better irrigation water management. Three irrigation treatments were used during two seasons to measure actual crop water use （ETc） under no soil stress treatment using gravimetric sampling. In the second season （SS）, the method was modified to target 8 temporal points during crop growth for smooth calculation of ETc under sufficient moisture supply to avoid the distortion that was created by the continuous gravimetric sampling after, before and during each irrigation cycle on the experimental plots. Water was stopped when each targeted sampling point was reached using large plots where intensive sampling continues until the crop reaches severe water stress or permanent wilting point （PWP）. The actual crop water use was extracted from the soil moisture depletion curve which allowed the identification of two clear segments. The first segment indicated crop water use during no water stress while the change of the slope indicated the beginning of the water stress. The reference crop evapotranspiration （ET0） was determined on daily basis using appropriate weather data that coincides with the ETc measurement and consequently the crop Kc were calculated. The results showed that the method used during the SS is easy and provides a better understanding of actual crop water use and better estimation of crop Kc. The calculated 10-day Kc values for sugar beet under heavy cracking clay soil conditions were： 0.46, 0.49, 0.53 and 0.60; for the initial stage： 0.69, 0.78, 0.88 and 0.97; for the development stage： 1.05, 1.11, 1.13, 1.11 and 1.04; for mid-season stage and for late season stage： 0.92, 0.74 and 0.60. Yield and other sugar related parameters were also presented for the two seasons.