PREDICTING THE PERMEABILITY OF SANDY SOILS FROM GRAIN SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS A thesis submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science by Emine Mercan Onur May, 2014 Thesis written by Emine Mercan Onur B.S., Middle East Technical University, 2009 M.S., Kent State University, 2014 Approved by ___________________________________, Advisor ___________________________________, Chair, Department of Geology ___________________________________, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... xiii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................... xiv ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 3 1.1 Background ............................................................................................................. 3 1.2 Factors affecting Permeability ................................................................................ 4 1.2.1 Effect of Grain Size and Grain Size Distribution ...................................................... 5 1.2.2 Effect of Density and Void Ratio ............................................................................... 7 1.2.3 Effect of Soil Texture and Structure .......................................................................... 7 1.3 Previous Investigations ........................................................................................... 7 1.4 Objectives of the Study ......................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODS .......................................................................... 13 2.1 Sample Collection and Preparation ....................................................................... 13 2.2 Laboratory Investigations ..................................................................................... 13 2.2.1 Grain Size Distribution Test .................................................................................... 13 2.2.2 Compaction Test ...................................................................................................... 15 2.3 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................ 18 2.3.1 Statistical Analysis ................................................................................................... 18 2.3.2 Modeling of Data ..................................................................................................... 20 CHAPTER 3: DATA PRESENTATION ......................................................................... 22 3.1 Grain Size Distribution ......................................................................................... 22 iii 3.1.1 Grain Size Distribution by Sieve Analysis .............................................................. 22 3.1.2 Grain Size Distribution by the Camsizer Video Grain Size Analyzer ..................... 24 3.1.3 Comparison of Sieve Analysis and the Camsizer Video Grain Size Analyzer ........ 26 3.2 Compaction Test Data ........................................................................................... 32 3.3 Permeability Data.................................................................................................. 32 CHAPTER 4: EFFECT OF GRAIN SIZE DISTRIBUTION AND DENSITY ON PERMEABILITY ............................................................................................................. 41 4.1 Statistical Analysis ................................................................................................ 41 4.1.1 Statistical Evaluation of Data ................................................................................... 41 4.1.2 Bivariate Analysis .................................................................................................... 44 4.1.3 Multiple Regression Analysis .................................................................................. 51 4.2 New Permeability Index ....................................................................................... 57 4.3 3-D Prediction Model ........................................................................................... 64 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION ............................................................................................ 68 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMENDATIONS ..................................... 766 6.1 Conclusions ........................................................................................................... 76 6.2 Recomendations .................................................................................................. 777 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 788 APPENDIX A: GRAIN SIZE DISTRIBUTION PLOTS ................................................ 81 APPENDIX B: COMPACTION AND PERMEABILITY DATA ................................ 922 APPENDIX C: HISTOGRAMS OF NON-TRANSFORMED DATA .......................... 944 APPENDIX D: HISTOGRAMS AND P-P PLOTS OF TRANSFORMED DATA ........ 99 iv APPENDIX E: BIVARIATE ANALYSIS PLOTS OF NON-TRANSFORMED DATA ....................................................................................................................................... 1088 APPENDIX F: CALCULATION OF NEW PERMEABILITY INDEX ..................... 1166 APPENDIX G: GRAIN SIZE DISTRIBUTION, DENSITY, PERMEABILITY, AND NEW PERMEABILITY INDEX DATA FOR THE THREE SOILS (#7 AND 8) USED FOR VALIDATION PURPOSE .................................................................................... 119 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Typical grain size distribution curve with commonly used grain size indices ..6 Figure 1.2: Particle shape characterization: (a) chart for visual estimation of roundness and sphericity (from Krumbein and Sloss, 1963). (b) Examples of particle shape characterization (from Powers, 1953) ......................................................8 Figure 1.3: Diagram showing horizontal flow through grains (From Das, 2008) ...............8 Figure 2.1: Six sandy soils used in the study .....................................................................14 Figure 2.2: (a) Camsizer video grain size analyzer for grain size distribution analysis; (b) close up view of grains before falling ..............................................................16 Figure 2.3: Standard compaction test apparatus ................................................................17 Figure 2.4: Constant head permeability test set up ............................................................17 Figure 3.1: Grain size distribution of six soil samples by sieve analysis ..........................23 Figure 3.2: Grain size distribution curves by Camsizer video grain size analyzer. Soil 3, results of Brooks study, was not available to test by camsizer ........................25 Figure 3.3: Comparison of D10 values by sieve analysis and Camsizer video grain size analyzer ............................................................................................................27 Figure 3.4: Comparison of D30 values by sieve analysis and Camsizer video grain size analyzer ............................................................................................................27 Figure 3.5: Comparison of D60 values by sieve analysis and Camsizer video grain size analyzer ............................................................................................................28 Figure 3.6: Comparison of Cu values by sieve analysis and Camsizer methods ...............28 vi Figure 3.7: Comparison of Cc values by sieve analysis and Camsizer video grain size analyzer ...........................................................................................................29 Figure 3.8: Comparison of %C values by sieve analysis and Camsizer video grain size analyzer ...........................................................................................................29 Figure 3.9: Comparison of %M values by sieve analysis and Camsizer video grain size analyzer ...........................................................................................................30 Figure 3.10: Comparison of %F values by sieve analysis and Camsizer video grain size analyzer ...........................................................................................................30 Figure 3.11: Comparison of Hazen permeability (kHazen) values by using D10 values both fromsieve analysis and the Camsizer video grain size analyzer ......................31 Figure 3.12: Permeability (top) and compaction (bottom) curves for soil 1 .....................34 Figure 3.13: Permeability (top) and compaction (bottom) curves for soil 2 .....................35 Figure 3.14: Permeability (top) and compaction (bottom) curves for soil 3 .....................36 Figure 3.15: Permeability (top) and compaction (bottom) curves for soil 4 .....................37 Figure 3.16: Permeability (top) and compaction (bottom) curves for soil 5 .....................38 Figure 3.17: