Geomechanics and Engineering

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Investigation on moisture migration of unsaturated clay using cross-borehole electrical resistivity tomography technique

  • Lei, Jiang (State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences) ;
  • Chen, Weizhong (State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences) ;
  • Li, Fanfan (State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences) ;
  • Yu, Hongdan (State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences) ;
  • Ma, Yongshang (State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences) ;
  • Tian, Yun (State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
  • Received : 2020.09.25
  • Accepted : 2021.05.08
  • Published : 2021.05.25
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Abstract

Cross-borehole electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) is an effective groundwater detection tool in geophysical investigations. In this paper, an artificial water injection test was conducted on a small clay sample, where the high-resolution cross-borehole ERT was used to investigate the moisture migration law over time. The moisture migration path can be two-dimensionally imaged based on the relationship between resistivity and saturation. The hydraulic conductivity was estimated, and the magnitude ranged from 10-11 m/s to 10-9 m/s according to the comparison between the simulation flow and the saturation distribution inferred from ERT. The results indicate that cross-borehole ERT could help determine the resistivity distribution of small size clay samples. Finally, the cross-borehole ERT technique has been applied to investigate the self-sealing characteristics of clay.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China [No. 51979266] and the National Natural Science Foundation of China [No. 51879258] to this research.

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