Name: Atul Kumar Singh

ENCE 645
Geotechnics of Waste Disposal

Mid-Term Exam –Spring 2018

This is an open-book take-home exam. If any assumptions are necessary, state them clearly with appropriate
reasoning. While in possession of this exam, you are bound by honor not to discuss this exam or technical
issues regarding ENCE 645 with anyone but Dr. Aydilek. Violation of the honor code results in a zero for the
exam.

I understand and have complied with the honor code:

Name Atul Kumar Singh

Date and Signature 4/1/2018

This exam must be returned with your solution

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Problem 1 – Short Answer (10 points)

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a. A mine is planning to use a silty sand mixed with sodium enriched bentonite to line a wastewater lagoon
that will retain process water from mineral extraction. The lagoon will retain the water before it is treated at
the wastewater treatment plant. Calcium enriched lime is added to the water during the mineral extraction
process, which leaves the water rich in calcium. Will the process water affect the hydraulic conductivity of
the silty sand-bentonite mixture? Why? (6 points)

b. Explain the difference between effective porosity and total porosity (4 points).

Solution

a. Yes, the process of adding Ca to lagoon will definitely affect the hydraulic conductivity of the silty sand-
bentonite mixture. The K value will decrease with time. Firstly, K decreases with the increase of
bentonite as bentonite is highly expansive, low permeability clay soil. (Dr Aydilek). Secondly, as
concentration of Ca increases in the water most of the Ca (positively charged) cations will get sorbed by
the soil in the double layer, where bentonite clay act as a negatively charged particle. Because of this
continuous adsorption there will be reduction in the size of Double diffused layer. Now as DDL will get
thicker there will be a reduction in the K (Dr Aydilek)

b. Effective Porosity (ne): - the ne of soil is basically the portion of voids in the soil which is available for
the flow of any type of fluids. The seepage velocity and K of a soil always depends upon the effective
porosity. Contaminant movement through a clay liner can be predicted if the key mass transport
parameters such as retardation factor, hydrodynamic dispersion coefficient, and seepage velocity are
known. (Yin et al. 1997) This means that the effective porosity is very important parameter when it
comes to movement of fluid in soil.

Total porosity (n): - Total Porosity or pore space refers to the volume of soil voids that can be filled by
water and/or air. It is inversely related to bulk density. The total porosity of a porous medium is the ratio
of the pore volume to the total volume of a representative sample of the medium.

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Problem 2. Compaction (20 points)

Part I: One of your junior engineers has submitted a construction quality (CQC) plan for your review before it
is sent to the client. The CQC plan includes a compaction specification for the compacted clay liner. The
specification requires that the clay be compacted to a dry unit weight  92% of maximum dry unit weight
(standard Proctor) and wet of standard Proctor optimum water content. Compaction and hydraulic
conductivity-water content curves for the soil are shown in the figure below. The clay liner is required to have
hydraulic conductivity  1 x 10-7 cm/sec. Find the acceptable zone based on hydraulic conductivity. Does this
specification ensure that the required hydraulic conductivity will be obtained? Explain (10 pts).

Solution

The “Shaded Area 2” is the acceptable zone for the dry density and water content which can be used in
the field to acquire hydraulic conductivity  1 x 10-7 cm/sec. We can clearly see from the figure that the K
corresponding to the acceptable zone (“Shaded Area 1”) is less than 1 x 10 -7 cm/sec. Assuming that this liner is
constructed in Maryland, the permissible range for water content is OMC to OMC+4% i.e. we can have
maximum water content as OMC+4% (21.5%) on field during the construction. So yes according to the
specification we can achieve our K value. And even though there is no mention of maximum water content to be
used on the field during the compaction, it’s not an issue because even if we go beyond OMC+21.5% the K is
still below 1 x 10-7 cm/sec. Strength can be an issue if we use more water but there is no mention of strength in
the specification.

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Part II: Explain the shape of the standard Proctor compaction and hydraulic conductivity-water content curves
(above) in terms of the shear strength and fate of clods during compaction (10 pts).

Solution

According to Clod Theory as the soil dries, water retreats into smaller and small pore spaces with
smaller menisci and for small menisci (small pores, small r), more negative pressure is generated for the same
soil. So on the dry side of the SP curve pore water pressure (u) is negative and if the u is –ve then the effective
stress will be high along with the strength of the soil and that if why the field compaction will also be tough. At
the same time on dry side because of dry strong clods it is difficult to remold and densify the soil. On dry side
the soil will have large air filled voids and because of this the effective porosity will be more and permeability
will be more.

On the wet side of the OMC, Clay is easier to compact because the soil has a lower shear strength. On
the wet side we will have soft clods, fully remolded, monolithic structure, and no air filled voids. If we have less
air voids, then most of the voids are filled with the water so the dry density will decrease as water will occupy
more of the structure. And because of less air voids effective porosity will be less and K will be less too.

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Problem 3 –Laboratory Hydraulic Conductivity Tests (30 points)

a. Explain the principle of backpressure saturation (sufficient detail necessary). Why is it used, even
though soils in the field are not backpressured? If a specimen is permeated with a cell pressure of 350
kPa, influent pore water pressure of 300 kPa, and effluent pore water pressure of 285 kPa, what is the
backpressure? (10 pts)
Solution

The same soil with different degrees of saturation shows different physical properties. For that reason,
soil is conventionally considered to be composed of three phases, i.e., solid soil particles, water, and air. The
degree of saturation is therefore used to indicate the relative amount of water contained in the voids. The
back pressure saturation method is commonly adopted in tests like triaxial tests and flexible wall
permeameter to increase the saturation degree of samples so as to remove the maximum amount of air from
the soil.

Firstly, it is used to make the soil completely saturated and as far as K is concerned the Saturated
hydraulic conductivity is usually the parameter of concern as K tends to increase with increase in the
Saturation as more pores are active in the conducting flow. Secondly even though there is no back pressure
in the field, but there are confining pressure in the field and back pressure saturation act as a confining
stress. Now, K decreases as there is an increase in the confining pressure. So to get a correct estimate about
the K we can use back water saturation.

B = Change in Pore water pressure / Cell pressure

In this case
Change in Pore water pressure = 15 kpa
Cell pressure = 350 kpa

B = 15/350 = .04 which is less than .95 so the sample is unsaturated.

b. Sketch and explain the relationship between hydraulic conductivity and hydraulic gradient. Assume that
the tests are conducted in flexible-wall permeameters and the gradient is increased by reducing the pore
water pressure at the effluent end of the specimen. If the gradient used in the laboratory is too high, will
the measured hydraulic conductivity be higher or lower than the hydraulic conductivity expected in the
field? Assume that the laboratory test is conducted on a specimen large enough to be representative of
field conditions. (10 pts).

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Solution

According to Darcy’s Law, q = KiA, which means that the K is inversely proportional to the i (hydraulic
gradient). Now if there is an increase in “i’ then there will be a increase in “head loss” (i = head loss / length of
soil sample) and the increase in the head loss suggests that, less water is coming out of the soil sample (as there
loss of water in soil sample) so low K value.
At the same time by increasing the i, we also increase the confining pressure at the effluent and as the confining
pressure is increased the K value will go down as the because of the confining pressure the soil particles will be
closer to each other and hence there will be less space for the water to move so low K value.

If the gradient used in the laboratory is too high, the measured hydraulic conductivity be lower than the
hydraulic conductivity expected in the field.

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c. You are conducting tests to determine if frost damage has occurred in clay barriers at two sites. At Site
1, frost damage may have occurred in the clay layer used in the final cover. The cover at this site
consists of 30 cm of top soil ( = 16 kN/m3), a geocomposite drain, a geomembrane, and 90 cm of
compacted clay (=18 kN/m3). The sample from Site 1 was removed at mid-depth of the clay layer. At
Site 2, a compacted clay liner was exposed to frost because enough waste was not received to cover it
before the onset of winter. The compacted clay liner is 150 cm thick, has a unit weight of sat=17
kN/m3, and is overlain by a geomembrane and 30 cm of leachate collection system (LCS) stone (sat
=16.5 kN/m3). The water level remains at the top of LCS stone. It will eventually be covered with 40 m
of refuse (=12 kN/m3) and a final cover similar to the cover used at Site 1. The sample from Site 2 was
collected from a depth of 60 cm in the liner. Specify the effective stress that should be used for each
specimen when tested for hydraulic conductivity in flexible-wall permeameters. Assume the weights of
geosynthtetics are negligible (10 pts)

Solution

SITE 1

No waste has been applied so,

Effective stress will be because of 30 cm of top soil and 45 cm of CCL (sample is taken from middle of the
CCL).

σ' = .3*16 + .45*18 = 12.91 kN/m2

SITE 2

As given in the problem waste disposed is for 40 m (METERS) and sample from Site 2 was collected from a
depth of 60 cm in the liner

σ' = .3*16 + 40*12 + .3(16.5-9.81) + .6*(17-9.81) = 491.12 kN/m2

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Problem 4. Field Hydraulic Conductivity Tests (40 pts)

Assume that two technicians were involved in a two-stage borehole (TSB) test. The first technician took great
care to avoid smear in the base of the borehole. The other technician forgot about eliminating smear inside the
borehole. How will the presence of smear affect the vertical field hydraulic conductivity determined from the
TSB test? Briefly explain. (5 points)
Solution

During the installation of casing in TSB test, smearing may cause significant remolding of the subsoil, especially in the immediate
vicinity of the casing. Because of this resulting smear zone there will be a reduction in lateral permeability.

b. A low plasticity clay from the Piedmont formation in the southeastern US is to be used for lining a
containment unit for soils containing residual organic liquids. Approximately 40 m of waste will be placed in
the unit. Flexible-wall permeameters were used to conduct hydraulic conductivity tests on specimens of the
clay compacted at reduced (RP), standard (SP), and modified (MP) Proctor efforts and the measured hydraulic
conductivities are summarized in Table 1:

Table 1. Results of Laboratory Hydraulic Conductivity Tests.

w (%) d Effort K (cm/s) w (%) d (kN/m3) Effort K
(kN/m3) (cm/s)
21.0 15.5 MP 5.0E-08 29.1 14.4 SP 4.0E-08
23.5 15.8 MP 8.0E-09 31.6 14.0 SP 6.0E-08
27.0 15.2 MP 9.0E-09 36.1 13.2 SP 2.0E-07
28.5 14.9 MP 2.0E-08 26.5 13.2 RP 1.0E-04
31.0 14.3 MP 3.0E-08 28.4 13.7 RP 3.0E-05
32.0 14.0 MP 4.0E-08 30.5 13.8 RP 8.0E-08
24.0 13.7 SP 9.0E-07 32.4 13.7 RP 7.0E-08
27.5 14.1 SP 8.0E-08 34.0 13.3 RP 9.0E-08
Good Luck in the exam! 37.0 12.8 RP 3.0E-07

A test pad 600 mm thick was constructed at the site to evaluate whether the construction method would yield a
field hydraulic conductivity comparable to that measured in the laboratory. An SDRI test was used to measure
the field hydraulic conductivity. The inner ring of the SDRI was 1.5 m x 1.5 m and the depth of ponding was
300 mm. A 2-L bag was used. Changes in the bag weights and during the test are shown in Table 2. The
tensiometer data are shown in Fig. 1 for different Df values. Note that Df is in cm.

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80.0

70.0 10
Tenisomenter Reading (kPa) 20
60.0 30
40
50.0

40.0

30.0

20.0

10.0

0.0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Time (d)

Fig. 1. Tensiometer data from SDRI test.

Table 2. Change in Weight of SDRI Bag

Time Since Test Began Change in Weight of Bag
(d) (kg)
0
5 1.8442
10 1.3183
15 1.0853
20 0.9464
25 0.8516
30 0.7817
35 0.7273
40 0.6835
45 0.6471
50 0.6164
55 0.5900
60 0.5670

Do or answer the following:

a. Plot the hydraulic conductivity as a function of time using the wetting front method and report the field
hydraulic conductivity determined using the wetting front method.
Solution

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The field hydraulic conductivity determined using the wetting front method was approximately K= 2 E-08
cm/sec

b. If the air entry suction was 150 cm, what would be the field hydraulic conductivity if Wang and Benson’s
method was used?
Solution

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The field hydraulic conductivity determined using the wetting front method was approximately K= 8.5 E-09
cm/sec

c. Why does Hs decrease with time during an SDRI test? Which method of analysis accounts for the decrease
over time?
Solution

Depth of Wetting
front

Hs (Suction head)

In SDRI test the pond will be full of water, so as test will progress there will be increase in the height of Depth
of wetting front and as Df increases (because water will moving downward in the soil) there will be a
reduction in the Suction head.

At the same time as the water content in the soil will increase suction capacity of the soil will decrease so the Hs
will also decrease.
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d. Given the result of part “a” and the laboratory hydraulic conductivity data, describe the compaction
conditions (i.e., conditions for w and d) that likely existed when the test pad was constructed.
Solution

K for the a par is 2 E-08

According to me, the Modified compaction was used and it was done at 28.5% water content, which makes
sense as it is clearly on the wet side of the compaction.

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