CHE 598 Seminar: Soil water retention mechanisms and implications to mechanical behavior

About the event

Presenter: Idil Akin, Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Washington State University

Soil water retention mechanisms include sorption (at low saturation) and capillary condensation (at high saturation). Water vapor sorption mechanisms are directly linked to fundamental properties such as mineralogy and specific surface area and have an important influence on macroscopic soil hydraulic and mechanical behavior. This talk demonstrates several applications of water vapor sorption behavior, including measuring specific surface area of clays; quantifying bentonite content of soil-bentonite cutoff wall backfills; developing alternative screening tests for chemical compatibility of polymer-modified geosynthetic clay liners; and characterizing different materials encountered in geotechnical engineering problems including polymers, biopolymers, biofilms, and wildfire ash. The transition between surface adsorption and capillary condensation for compacted clay and the corresponding changes to internal stress state and therefore to strength and stiffness are discussed in this talk.