Effect Of Soil Consistency On Flow Characteristics Of Acids Through Cohesive Soils

Abstract

The consistency of cohesive soil depends to a large extent on the structure of soil particleswhich may be arranged in two systems; dispersed or flocculated. The presence of salts oracids between the soil particles will alter the arrangement of particles through affecting theattractive and repulsive forces.In this paper, a program of laboratory tests is carried out at the University ofTechnology/ Baghdad on cohesive soils of different values of Atterberg limits. Samples ofthese soils were tested for grain size distribution (sieve analysis and hydrometer). Thefalling head permeability test was carried out to determine the coefficient of permeability ofthe soils to HCl acid.The soil parameters determined in the laboratory will be used in the numericalanalysis.The aim of this study is to apply the finite element method to study the steady flowof pollutants (acids) in a confined aquifer. The program (MULAT) is used for this purpose.The path of flow of the acid through the soil is traced.The basic problem solved in this paper is a one of linear flow in a single confinedaquifer. It represents the case of leakage of acids from storage tank and flow of the acidsthrough the foundation soil. It was concluded from the finite element results that themaximum head caused by the flow of the acid through the soil decreases with the increase ofthe coefficient of permeability and the plasticity index of the polluted soil.