In-Situ Determination of Specific Surface Area of Clays

There are many methods to determine the specific surface area (SSA) of clay minerals. Some of these methods lack accuracy and some are time consuming. There are no methods available for the determination of in situ SSA. In this paper a new approach to predict the SSA of clays is proposed, which has...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geotechnical and geological engineering 2019-01, Vol.37 (1), p.465-474
Main Authors: Meegoda, Jay N., Martin, Lucas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Civil Engineering
Clay
Clay minerals
Conductivity
Constants
Dielectric constant
Dispersion
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Electrical properties
Electrical resistivity
Frequency ranges
Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences
Hydrogeology
Methods
Mineralogy
Minerals
Original Paper
Permittivity
Sandy soils
Sediments
Silt
Soil
Soil properties
Specific surface
Surface area
Terrestrial Pollution
Waste Management/Waste Technology
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Summary:There are many methods to determine the specific surface area (SSA) of clay minerals. Some of these methods lack accuracy and some are time consuming. There are no methods available for the determination of in situ SSA. In this paper a new approach to predict the SSA of clays is proposed, which has been verified in the laboratory. This method is based on the electrical properties of soils. In this paper the experimental set up and the estimation of specific surface area is presented on the basis of variation of the dielectric constant and the conductivity of the clay–water system when subjected to alternating current in the frequency range of 1–100 MHz. The dielectric constant and conductivity respond differently for different soils with varying surface area corresponding to their mineralogy. When dielectric constants and conductivity were measured for sandy soils, there were no effects with the change of input frequency. The electrical method can identify clays and separate them from fine grained silts. Data are presented which shows a linear correlation between the magnitude of dielectric dispersion and SSA for various clay mixtures. The clay structure determines the value of in situ dielectric dispersion of the clay (Δε o ) and hence the SSA, making this a good in situ method to estimate SSA of clays.
ISSN:0960-3182
1573-1529
DOI:10.1007/s10706-018-0623-7