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A developed soil column test device for measuring the electrical conductivity breakthrough curves

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An Erratum to this article was published on 18 April 2015

Abstract

To obtain the breakthrough curves without efforts required in the sampling and chemical analysis, a new soil column test device was developed. The device can conduct time-continuous electrical conductivity (EC) measurements without disturbing the soil matrix at all stages of the test. This device is composed of soil column, channel selector, LCR meter, and data logger. The soil column employs three 4-electrode sensors installed at different positions. To verify its applicability, the electrical conductivity breakthrough curves at different distances have been obtained with the use of five different species influent solutions (KCl, NaCl, CaCl2, MgCl2, and seawater). Results showed that the EC breakthrough curves and the transport parameters (the pore-water velocity, the dispersion coefficient, and the dispersivity) are very reasonable, and understand the one-dimensional steady flow exactly. The developed soil column test device proposed in this study provides a nondestructive, convenient, and inexpensive means of obtaining EC breakthrough curves.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by Joint Research of NSFC-NRF Scientific Cooperation Program (51211140344), National Natural Science Foundation of China (51078254, 51078253), Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University of China (NCET-12-1039), the Top Young Academic Leaders of Higher Learning Institutions of Shanxi, and SNU BK21 research Program funded by Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, China

    Xiaoqiang Dong & Xiaofeng Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of Coal Science and Technology, Ministry of Education and Shanxi Province, Taiyuan, 030024, China

    Xiaoqiang Dong

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-742, South Korea

    Xiaoqiang Dong, Heesoo Woo & Junboum Park

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  1. Xiaoqiang Dong
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  2. Xiaofeng Liu
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  3. Heesoo Woo
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  4. Junboum Park
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Correspondence to Xiaoqiang Dong.

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Dong, X., Liu, X., Woo, H. et al. A developed soil column test device for measuring the electrical conductivity breakthrough curves. Environ Earth Sci 72, 3715–3722 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3514-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3514-0

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