USE OF TEMPE CELL, MODIFIED TO RESTRAIN SWELLING, FOR DETERMINATION OF HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY AND SOIL WATER CONTENT

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The Tempe cell, modified by others to determine saturated hydraulic conductivity (K), was further modified to restrain swelling of the soil and to facilitate air and water movement across the top and bottom of the sample. An apparatus was developed whereby K and water content (θ) could be determined for several soil samples concurrently and suction levels could be varied without disturbing the sample. K and θ were determined for several prepared soil samples by the constant head permeameter method and by the Tempe cell with and without swelling restrained, and for soil cores by the Tempe cell with swelling restrained. With swelling restrained, the K results from the prepared samples did not differ significantly from those of the core samples. For the sandy to silty loam soils at suction levels 0, 10, and 20 kPa, θ of the core sample was less than that from the other samples, whereas for the clay loam soils, θ of the core sample was less than that from the others at suction levels of 0 and 10 kPa. For all methods, θ was correlated to clay content of the soil. These results indicate that the Tempe cell, as finally modified with swelling restraints, can be used to determine K and θ for characterizing the drainability of a nonstructured to weakly structured soil, using either prepared samples or cores. Key words: Hydraulic conductivity, pore volume, soil water content, Tempe cell

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit: