Flow of Kaolinite and Sewage Suspensions in Sand and Sand‐Silt: II. Hydraulic Conductivity Reduction

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Abstract
The reduction in satiated (near‐saturated) hydraulic conductivity of fine quartz sand and sand‐silt (95% fine quartz sand and 5% quartz silt) for the flow of stable water suspensions of kaolinite clay and sewage solids was investigated in vertical flow columns. An equation was derived theoretically in which hydraulic conductivity is expressed as an exponential function of the cumulative volume of suspension inflow, and that contains a characterizing constant, termed the clogging coefficient, which is zero when water alone is the flow liquid. The equation was verified by experimental measurements. For a given suspension, the clogging coefficient was larger for sand‐silt than for sand, and of a given porous medium was larger for kaolinite suspension than for sewage suspension, but was not significantly affected by the initial water content (air‐dry or satiated) of the porous medium. The clogging coefficient offers promise as a criterion for the design of land‐application sewage systems and as a parameter for describing soil crusting caused by the infiltration of muddy water.
Funding Information
  • U.S. Department of the Interior