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New Experimental Methods for Measuring Suction and Chemical Potential of an Aqueous Solution of Ethanol in Soil

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Abstract

In this article we develop various experimental methods for measuring the suction and the chemical potential of water and ethanol in soil. The results obtained are in good agreement between the method using the filter paper and the sorption isotherm at low water contents. The precision is less good for the high water contents between the filter paper for water and the box of Richards for ethanol. To analyze the behavior of an ethanol solution in hygroscopic domain, we have used the chemical potential of each component and we showed that this thermodynamic quantity is highly sensitive to the presence of another component and to the surface layers. So, a new device called fragmentation activimeter has been used to measure all the parameters necessary to determine the chemical potential. The results obtained for all the methods are in good agreement with physical behavior of an aqueous solution of ethanol in hygroscopic soil.

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Abbreviations

\({I}_{c}\) :

Consistency index (%)

\({I}_{p}\) :

Plasticity index (%)

\({m}_{i}\) :

Mass of a component i (Kg)

\({M}_{v}\) :

Molar weight of vapor (kg mol−1)

\({M}_{w}\) :

Molar weight of water (kg mol−1)

\(P\) :

Inside pressure (Pa)

\({P}^{0}\) :

Reference pressure (Pa)

\({P}_{0}\) :

Total pressure at state 0 (Pa)

\({P}_{0}^{\mathrm{air}}\) :

Air pressure at state 0 (Pa)

\({P}_{0}^{w}\) :

Water pressure at state 0 (Pa)

\({P}_{1}\) :

Total pressure at state 1 (Pa)

\({P}_{1}^{\mathrm{air}}\) :

Air pressure at state 1 (Pa)

\({P}_{1}^{e}\) :

Ethanol pressure at state 1 (Pa)

\({P}_{1}^{w}\) :

Water pressure at state 1 (Pa)

\({P}_{2}\) :

Total pressure at state 2 (Pa)

\({P}_{2}^{\mathrm{air}}\) :

Air pressure at state 2 (Pa)

\({P}_{2}^{e}\) :

Ethanol pressure at state 2 (Pa)

\({P}_{2}^{w}\) :

Water pressure at state 2 (Pa)

\({P}_{3}\) :

Total pressure at state 3 (Pa)

\({P}_{3}^{\mathrm{air}}\) :

Air pressure at state 3 (Pa)

\({P}_{3}^{e}\) :

Ethanol pressure at state 3 (Pa)

\({P}_{3}^{w}\) :

Water pressure at state 3 (Pa)

\({P}_{\ell}\) :

Liquid pressure (Pa)

\({P}_{v}\) :

Vapor pressure (Pa)

\({P}_{v\mathrm{sat}}\) :

Saturated vapor pressure (Pa)

\({P}_{w}\) :

Pressure of water (Pa)

\(R\) :

Ideal gas constant (J K−1 mol−1)

\(\mathrm{RH}\) :

Relative humidity (%)

\(S\) :

Entropy (J)

\(s\) :

Suction (Pa)

\({S}_{r}\) :

Degree of saturation (%)

\(T\) :

Temperature (K)

\(U\) :

Internal energy (J)

\(V\) :

Volume (m3)

\({V}_{0}\) :

Total volume at state 0 (m3)

\({V}_{1}\) :

Total volume at state 1 (m3)

\({V}_{2}\) :

Total volume at state 2 (m3)

w :

Water content (%)

\({w}_{L}\) :

Liquid limit (%)

\({w}_{p}\) :

Plasticity limit (%)

\({w}_{r}\) :

Residual water content (%)

\({w}_{\mathrm{sat}}\) :

Saturated water content (%)

\({\mu }_{i}\) :

Chemical potential of a component i (J kg−1)

\({\mu }_{i\alpha }\) :

Chemical potential of i in \(\alpha\) (J kg−1)

\({\mu }_{i\beta }\) :

Chemical potential of i in \(\beta\) (J kg−1)

\({\mu }_{\ell}\) :

Chemical potential of liquid (J kg−1)

\({\mu }_{\ell}^{0}\) :

Reference chemical potential of liquid (J kg−1)

\({\mu }_{v}\) :

Chemical potential of vapor (J kg−1)

\({\mu }_{v}^{0}\) :

Reference chemical potential of vapor (J kg−1)

\({\mu }_{w}\) :

Chemical potential of water (J kg−1)

\(\phi\) :

Porosity (%)

\({\rho }_{d}\) :

Apparent dry density (kg m−3)

\({\rho }_{h}\) :

Apparent humid density (kg m−3)

\({\rho }_{\ell}\) :

Apparent density of liquid (kg m−3)

\({\rho }_{s}\) :

Apparent density of solid (kg m−3)

\({\rho }_{w}\) :

Apparent density of water (kg m−3)

\({\rho }_{\mathrm{s}}^{*}\) :

Real density of solid (kg m−3)

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the University of Montpellier, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France) and the Joseph KI-ZERBO University, Ouagadougou (Burkina-Faso). Pr. Jean-Claude Benet deceased on July 27th 2019 while he was finishing this manuscript. This publication is an homage to its extensive contribution on this subject.

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The authors state that there was no source of funding for the work reported in this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LPCE/UFR-SEA, Université Joseph KI-ZERBO, 03 BP 7021, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

    Samuel Ouoba

  2. LMGC, CNRS, Université Montpellier 2, Montpellier, France

    Jean-Claude Bénet

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  1. Samuel Ouoba
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Correspondence to Samuel Ouoba.

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Ouoba, S., Bénet, JC. New Experimental Methods for Measuring Suction and Chemical Potential of an Aqueous Solution of Ethanol in Soil. Indian Geotech J 53, 678–685 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40098-022-00699-9

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