The movement of water in swelling materials

Abstract

A theory is developed to describe the one-dimensional movement of electrolyte in clay-electrolyte systems that are free to swell in the direction of electrolyte movement. This theory develops from the observation that Darcy's law describes flow of fluid relative to the comparatively immobile particles of clay, and is based on a scale of length defined with reference to the distribution of mass of the clay rather than the more conventional fixed scale of length. It is shown, theoretically and experimentally, that in this scale of length the appropriate equation is the diffusion equation, for the use of which there exists a large body of information in soil physics and other literature.

Sealing of Boreholes and Underground Excavations in Rock

“…the bentonite studied here) is difficult with any technique (Smiles and Rosenthal, 1968;Kharaka and Smalley, 1976;Olson and Daniel, 1981). In this investigation, low hydraulic gradients are used for the determination of permeability to minimize pressure-induced deformation of the samples during flow testing.…”

Use of an automated tension cell to measure physical properties of colloidal systems

“…A properly developed mathematical theory suitable for describing the flow of fluid through saturated, deformable porous media in one dimension already exists in the literature [2,3,4], thus only a brief sketch of the relevant equations will be presented. Figure 1 describes the basic one dimensional flow situation for the tension cell set-up.…”

Sealing performance of bentonite and bentonite/crushed rock borehole plugs

“…the bentonite studied here) is difficult with any technique (Gibson et al, 1967;Smiles and Rosenthal, 1968;Smiles, 1968;Kharaka and Smalley, 1976;Olson and Daniel, 1981). In this investigation, low hydraulic gradients are used for the determination of permeability to minimize the deformation of the samples during flow testing.…”