Capillary rise phenomenon in transparent soil

• Main Author: Tang, Weilun
• Other Authors: Leong Eng Choon
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/72959
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The use of transparent soil is implemented in view of difficulties in capillary rise experiment in soil; saturated and partially-saturated interface is difficult to distinguish, and maximum capillary height is almost impossible to read. Transparent soil takes advantage of identical refractive indices between soil and fluid to enable saturated and partially-saturated zone in the capillary height to be observed through the difference in the transparent soil’s visibility. Previous work had been made to address suitable medium as sand replacement, but the efficiency of distinguishing saturated and partially-saturated interface using transparent soil for capillary rise experiment was still an unknown. Capillary rise experiments were conducted using different fluid with silica gel beads to determine a suitable transparent soil. The result of using silica gel beads with olive oil in capillary rise experiments showed a distinct interface between the two zones, in terms of silica gel beads transparency. Transparent soil experimental readings were then used to evaluate four different theoretical formulations of capillary rise – Terzaghi (1943), Lane & Washburn (1946), Lu & Likos (2004), and Fries (2010). Terazghi (1943) and Lane & Washburn (1946) equations overpredicts rate of capillary rise, but were efficiently improved by modified equations of Lu & Likos (2004) and Fries (2010).