Experimental study on the hydraulic conductivity of calcareous sand in South China Sea

Characterization of the hydraulic property of a specific geomaterial is of fundamental importance in engineering design and application. This paper reports an experimental investigation to the hydraulic conductivity of a typical marine sand, i.e., calcareous sand, which becomes increasingly popular as sea-filling material for land reclamation or construction of artificial islands. A series of permeability tests have been performed using the calcareous sand collected from Nansha islands in South China Sea. Using the home-made permeability test apparatus (so-called velocity-controlled pressure-differential acquisition flow apparatus), the relationship between flow velocity and hydraulic gradient was obtained and the hydraulic conductivity of calcareous sand was then determined accordingly. The effects of important parameters, including particle shape and particle size distribution on the hydraulic conductivity of calcareous sand, were assessed. To investigate the effect of particle size distribution on the hydraulic conductivity of calcareous sand, two often-used parameters, i.e., nonuniformity coefficient and curvature coefficient were considered in this study. To quantitatively evaluate the irregularity of soil particle, a particle-shape parameter was introduced and it was able to consider sphericity and circularity of highly irregular particle. Two materials, namely, Fujian quartz sand and glass beads consisting of particles of characteristic shape, were also used in the permeability tests, and they were used to compare with calcareous sand. Through the comparison, the effect of particle shape of calcareous sand on its hydraulic conductivity was examined based on the newly introduced particle shape parameter. The test results indicate that the particle size distribution has a significant influence on the hydraulic conductivity of calcareous sand. The quite irregular particle shape is able to reduce the hydraulic conductivity of the calcareous sand. A comparative study of hydraulic conductivity between the theoretical prediction and experimental measurement was performed, and it is concluded that an improvement of theoretical model for prediction of the hydraulic conductivity of the porous media consisting of particles with highly irregular shapes, such as the calcareous sand, is still required.