In the ever expanding quest to understand the nature and behavior of soil, translucent and even transparent media have been developed to serve as soil simulates. These artificial soils can be used in experimental models to make visual measurement of phenomena such as geosystem kinematics, soil mass movement, soil particle motion, and pore fluid flow that would be nearly impossible to obtain in natural opaque soils without expensive equipment or boundary effects. One successful type of translucent clay simulate is lithium sodium magnesium silicate (LNM silicate, commonly referred by the trade name Laponite®); however, it's low density/high void ratio results in higher than typical permeability, low undrained shear strength, and extremely long consolidation times. Until now, translucent soil simulates of only 4.5% by mass LNM silicate to total mass have been possible. This paper provides a method for creating mixtures of translucent LNM silicate gel/glass as high as 15% by mass with the additions of an emulsifier, sodium pyrophosphate decahydrate (SPP), which impedes gelation so additional silicate powder can be added. Further, digital image processing techniques are used to present a relationship between LNM silicate, SPP, and translucency and an analysis of the modified simulate's permeability and consolidation properties, with comparisons to natural clays, is also included.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.