Abstract
Loess is very widely distributed, and the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of loess is related to many engineering issues. To determine the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of remoulded loess more conveniently and at a lower cost, filter paper test and soil column seepage test were carried out. The results indicate that in the one-dimensional soil column seepage process, the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of loess increases with the increase of the volumetric water content, and as the seepage time continues, the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of loess from the top to the depth of 40 cm gradually becomes uniform. The changes in the microstructure indicate that the collapsible settlement will occur during the seepage process, which will change the pore structure of loess, thereby reducing the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of the underlying loess. Compared with the experimental results, the soil hydraulic conductivity curve (SHCC) obtained by the van Genuchten–Mualem model (VG–M model) underestimates the magnitude of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity in the part with a low volumetric water content (< 20%). and the Childs and Collis-George model (CCG model) has more consistent results with the experimental results, because it is based on more segments of the soil–water characteristic curve (SWCC).
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Project (Grant no. 2020YFC1522200), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant no. lzujbky-2020-it06). The authors are also very grateful to the anonymous reviewers and editor of this paper, whose valuable comments led to substantial improvement of this manuscript.
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Chen, W., Jia, Q., Liu, P. et al. Determining the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of remoulded loess with filter paper method and soil column seepage test. Environ Earth Sci 80, 808 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-10100-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-10100-2