Long-Term Hydraulic Conductivity of a Geosynthetic Clay Liner.pdfVIP

Long-Term Hydraulic Conductivity of a Geosynthetic Clay Liner Permeated with Inorganic Salt Solutions 1 2 3 4 5 Ho Young Jo ; Craig H. Benson ; Charles D. Shackelford ; Jae-Myung Lee ; and Tuncer B. Edil, M.ASCE Abstract: Hydraulic conductivity tests were conducted on a geosynthetic clay liner GCL for more than 2.5 years and as many as 686 pore volumes of flow PVF using single-species salt solutions NaCl, KCl, or CaCl to 1 evaluate how the long-term hydraulic 2 conductivity K is affected by cation concentration and valence and 2 demonstrate the relevance and importance of termination criteria L when measuring hydraulic conductivity of GCLs to salt solutions. Permeation with CaCl2 solutions resulted in an increase in the hydraulic conductivity of 1 order of magnitude or more. The rate at which these changes occurred depended on concentration, with slower changes years and hundreds of PVF occurring for weaker solutions. In contrast, permeation with 100 mM NaCl or KCl solutions or de-ionized DI water resulted in no appreciable change in hydraulic conductivity, regardless of the duration of permeation or number of pore volumes of flow. Hydraulic conductivities determined in accordance with ASTM D 5084 and D 6766 K5084 and K6766 equaled KL when the permeant solution contained NaCl, KCl, or was a strong 50 mM CaCl2 solution. In contrast, when the permeant liquid was a weak 20 mM CaCl2 solution, K6766 and K5084 were 2–13 times lower than KL . Closer agreement between K6766 and KL 3 was obtained for weak CaCl2 solutions when the electric