Correlating the hydraulic conductivities of GCLs with some properties of bentonites

In this study, the relationships between hydraulic conductivity of GCLs and physico-chemical properties of bentonites were assessed. In addition to four factory manufactured GCLs, six artificially prepared GCLs (AP-GCLs) were tested. AP-GCLs were prepared in the laboratory without bonding or stitching. A total of 20 hydraulic conductivity tests were conducted using flexible wall permeameters ten of which were permeated with distilled deionized water (DIW) and the rest were permeated with tap water (TW). The hydraulic conductivity of GCLs and AP-GCLs were between $5.2{\times}10^{-10}cm/s$ and $3.0{\times}10^{-9}cm/s$. The hydraulic conductivities of all GCLs to DIW were very similar to that of GCLs to TW. Then, simple regression analyses were conducted between hydraulic conductivity and physicochemical properties of bentonite. The best correlation coefficient was achieved when hydraulic conductivity was related with clay content (R=0.85). Liquid limit and plasticity index were other independent variables that have good correlation coefficients with hydraulic conductivity (R~0.80). The correlation coefficient with swell index is less than other parameters, but still fairly good (R~0.70). In contrast, hydraulic conductivity had poor correlation coefficients with specific surface area (SSA), smectite content and cation exchange capacity (CEC) (i.e., R < 0.5). Furthermore, some post-test properties of bentonite such as final height and final water content were correlated with the hydraulic conductivity as well. The hydraulic conductivity of GCLs had fairly good correlation coefficients with either final height or final water content. However, those of AP-GCLs had poor correlations with these variables on account of fiber free characteristics.