Experimental analysis of the effect of mineral composition and water content of clay soil on electroosmotic efficiency

Electroosmosis can solve the technical difficulties associated with rapid drainage in environmental protection and geotechnical engineering applications. Electroosmotic efficiency is a crucial indicator for evaluating the economic benefits and technical effects of electroosmosis. The mineral composition and water content of the soil are the index factors affecting electroosmotic efficiency. Through electroosmosis experiments, some useful results are obtained: (1) Electroosmotic efficiency is related to the properties of pore water in soil and the ratio of free water to adsorbed water content. The mechanism reflects the effect of the interaction between minerals and water. (2) When the water content is above or below the liquid limit, the energy dissipation coefficient increases slowly or rapidly as the water content decreases, respectively. (3) The energy dissipation coefficient has a threshold with respect to the water content. When the water content decreases to this threshold, the energy dissipation coefficient increases sharply. (4) Adding non-hydrophilic minerals to clay increases the number of large pores and reduces the proportion of small pores in the soil, which reduces the energy dissipation coefficient.