ABSTRACT
Previous studies for solute transport in a porous medium treated the hydraulic conductivity and the degree of saturation as constant in the entire soil layer. However, hydraulic conductivity has been reported to be a function of void ratio and pore pressure. Changes in pore pressure will lead to changes in stresses and in turn soil deformation. Since the hydraulic properties of the soil, such as porosity, hydraulic conductivity and water storage capacity are affected by the changes in stresses. This coupled effect highlights the strong correlation between flow and stress-deformation, and the connection to the effects of pore pressure related hydraulic conductivity and the degree of saturation to the consolidation-induced solute transportation. In this chapter, dynamic hydraulic conductivity and degree of saturation are included in the model for solute transport in unsaturated deformable porous media. These effects are introduced when there is positive pore pressure, then new non-linear governing equations for the pore pressure field and solute concentration field are derived. The parametric study is conducted to investigate the influence of dynamic parameters on the consolidation-induced solute transport.
