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Flow of Kaolinite and Sewage Suspensions in Sand and Sand-Silt: I. Accumulation of Suspension Particles¹

ABSTRACT

Water suspensions of kaolinite clay and sewage solids were applied to vertical columns of initially air-dry fine quartz sand and sand-silt (95% fine quartz sand and 5% quartz silt), and sand-silt initially satiated (nearly saturated) with water. Water content and suspension-particle content (bulk density) were measured at various vertical positions in the column by dual-energy gamma-ray attenuation, beginning with the application of suspension and continuing until the overall hydraulic conductivity of the column had decreased to 1 mm/hour. The attenuation technique was successful for measuring the kaolinite bulk density but was of limited value for determining the sewage-solid bulk density. By postulating a mechanism of suspension-particle entrapment within the porous medium, an exponential equation was derived to describe the accumulation of suspension particles with time at a fixed position. The constants in this equation were determined from the experimental data by nonlinear least-squares regression and appeared to offer promise for characterizing the kaolinite accumulation in the sand and sand-silt. In general, the maximum accumulation of kaolinite occurred in the several millimeters nearest the suspension-application surface. The initial water content (air-dry or satiated) had little effect on kaolinite accumulation in the sand-silt, and the detectable depth of penetration was 3 to 4 cm in both cases. In contrast, kaolinite penetration to about 16 cm was detected in the initially air-dry sand, whereas the maximum (near-surface) accumulations were larger than in the sand-silt but required much more time to attain.

¹ Joint contribution from the Dep. of Agronomy, Purdue Univ. Agric. Exp. Stn. (Journal Paper no. 8526), West Lafayette, IN 47907, and the Dep. of Agronomy, Nebraska Agric. Exp. Stn. (Paper no. 6579, Journal Series), Lincoln, NE 68583. Partial support was from funds provided by the U.S. Dep. of the Interior, Office of Water Res. and Tech., as authorized under the Water Resources Research Act of 1964. Presented before Div. S-1 (Soil Physics), Soil Sci. Soc. of Am., 8 Aug. 1979, at Fort Collins, Colo.

² Graduate Research Assistant, Purdue Univ., now Assistant Professor of Soil Science, North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC 27650; and Professor of Soil Physics, Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583.

Received for publication April 16, 1981. Accepted for publication October 19, 1981.