Hydraulic conductivity Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Hydraulic conductivity - Coursework Example This paper will define hydraulic conductivity and discuss the properties or the states that affect the levels of hydraulic conductivity. Further, the paper will explore the importance of hydraulic conductivity and the methods used for the determination of hydraulic conductivity using empirical-based, field-based and lab-based approaches. The properties and the states that affect hydraulic conductivity The first property is the compaction conditions of the soil or the rock materials, where the difference in hydraulic conductivity depends on the contours of initial saturation. The zones of initial saturation are computed using the following equation: (Brauns, Bieberstein & Reith, 2003) Under the equation, â€Å"w is the molding water level; yd is the weight of the dry unit of the soil, yw is the (per-unit) weight of water, and Gs is the particular gravitational level of solids† (Brauns, Bieberstein & Reith, 2003). Defining the water levels in the combination and the weight of th e dry unit matches the hydraulic conductivity. The second determinant of hydraulic conductivity is index properties, which is marked by the composition of the soil or the rock material in question. ... d of larger particles, which are ordinarily less likely to be closely compacted into double layers, levels of hydraulic conductivity are lower (Beckie & Harvey, 2002). The third factor is the atterberg limits of the materials at the given area, where hydraulic conductivity should take place. In general, hydraulic conductivity reduces where there is an increase in the plasticity index and the liquid limit. This is the case, because plastic index and liquid limit are directly connected to the mineralogy of the soil, clay or the rock material in question. Sometimes, an increase in the clay content of a soil or rocky material or the presence of more active minerals of clay leads to a reduction in the size of microscale pores (Deb & Shukla, 2012). These microscale pores are the ones that determine the flow of water in the compacted wet lines of the soil or the rocky materials. This factor implies that soils with higher plasticity index and liquid limits will contain more clay content or a ctive clay minerals, and will characteristically have lower levels of hydraulic conductivity (Ganjian et al., 2006). Also, the particle size distribution of materials influences the hydraulic conductivity of the given material. This means that an increase in the percentage level of the fine particles contained in a unit area of the material causes a decrease in the hydraulic conductivity of the material. For example, soils with high levels of fine clay tend to have lower conductivity levels (Deb & Shukla, 2012). Why hydraulic conductivity is so important Hydraulic conductivity is used for different roles, including the development of engineering models entailing the use of geotechnical designing. Under this use, hydraulic conductivity is necessary for the determination of retaining