ISSN: 1945-7545
CODEN: GTJODJ
Page Count: 9

Capillary Flow in the Geotechnical Centrifuge

Lord, AE
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA

(Received 24 September 1997; accepted 4 June 1999)

Abstract

A “bundle of capillaries” approach is used to model unsaturated soils. Movement of fluid is approximated by employing a simple Poiseuille's capillary flow mathematical model. It is found that the centrifuge model flow time is 1/n² times that for the pertinent prototype flow time. Here model acceleration = n × acceleration of gravity (i.e., a = ng). This result applies for: 1. Capillary rise at an arbitrary angle to the horizontal. 2. Horizontal capillary flow. 3. Downward capillary flow (infiltration) at an arbitrary angle. 4. Vertical drainage at an arbitrary angle.

This is the same centrifuge model scale factor as for advection, diffusion, and dispersion.

Keywords:
capillary flow, centrifuge, flow time, scale factor

Paper ID: GTJ11241J
DOI: 10.1520/GTJ11241J
ASTM International is a member of CrossRef.