Study on Effect of Angularity on Hydraulic Conductivity of Mixtures of Materials

The knowledge of hydraulic properties of soils such as hydraulic conductivity is very important in many physical situations such as flow in an aquifer, flow through filters in water purification, sewage treatment plant and flow in packed bed chemical reactors. It is a key parameter in diagnosing the potential for widespread groundwater contamination by pollutants, and is the basis for design of drainage and irrigation systems. The size and shape of soil particles reflect the formation history of the grains. In turn, the macro-scale behaviour of the soil mass results from particle level interactions which are affected by particle shape. Sphericity, Roundness and Smoothness characterize different scales associated to particle shape. Hence, to investigate the effect of Shape factors of sediments on hydraulic conductivity through porous media, the present study has been conducted on Constant Head Permeameter with appurtenances to measure discharge, pore pressure differences and temperature. Four number of materials such as 6.3 mm White Marble chip, 6.3 mm Crushed Quartzite, 10 mm River Washed Gravel, 16 mm Glass Spherical Glass balls and making a mixture of these above mentioned materials in fixed proportion and then conducting Hydraulic Conductivity tests on it. On the basis of experimental results a positive correlation between Permeability (K), Shape factor Æž (angularity) and Volume Mean diameter (dv) has been developed.