ABSTRACT
This paper studied the effect of dry density (ρ d) on water diffusivity (D) of compacted bentonite based on the distribution of volumetric water content (θ) during wetting. Four ρ d cases with a range from 1.14 to 1.62 Mg/m3 were conducted. The θ- D relation was obtained with an updated equation to fit the relation between a time coefficient and θ. With the θ- D relation numerical calculations (finite differential method) were conducted for specimens with different ρ d. Both experimental and numerical results suggest that ρ d would have minor effect on the θ- D relation, that is, the time to reach full saturation are very similar for specimens within the tested density range though there are some differences at the beginning of water diffusion.
