Microstructures of consolidated Kaolin clay at different depths in centrifuge model tests

Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) has been extensively used to obtain microstructures of porous samples, including pore size distribution (PSD), pore volume, void ratio and so on. The purpose of this study is to investigate effects of variations in depth on the microstructure of compacted Kaolin clay. The consolidation properties at microlevel were determined by the MIP after centrifuge model test. Oven-dried techniques were used to dehydrate Kaolin clay samples which derived from different depths of the clay layer in the model container. The MIP results demonstrate that with increasing of the depth the proportion of bigger pore (r > 100 nm) in samples decreases and the most probable diameters of pores simultaneously decrease from 113.5 to 60.5 nm. Decrease of incremental pore volume peak from different samples indicates that rotation and translation happened in clay particles of deeper sample. The analysis of the PSD of each consolidated sample by the fractal theory reveals that the deeper the clay layer, the more irregular the shape of the pores of the clay.