capillary theory and the Young-Laplace equation described in Chapters 3 and 4.

The capillary
barrier systems described in the following section rely on this interesting and fundamental
disparity in the hydraulic conductivity and water retention characteristics of relatively
coarse-grained and fine-grained unsaturated soils.

8.4 CAPILLARY BARRIERS

8.4.1 Natural and Engineered Capillary Barriers

Capillary barriers are formed at the interface, of hydrologically dissimilar unsaturated soil strata
where a relatively fine soil layer overlies a relatively coarse soil layer. Figure 8.10 shows
a conceptual diagram for a two-layer capillary barrier system located near the ground surface.
Under unsaturated conditions the capillary tension at the interface between the soil layers
prohibits the movement of water from the fine layer into to coarse layer. Percolating
groundwater can be hydrostatically suspended, stored, or rerouted within or above the fine
layer. If the rate of subsequent evaporation, lateral drainage, or vegetative uptake out of
the fine layer exceeds the influx, then leaching into the underlying coarse layer can be
prevented.
Significant interest has been shown in recent years regarding the use of engineered or
natural capillary barriers for isolating buried waste from water rotating through the near-
surf ace unsaturated soil zone. In semiarid or arid regions, these types of barriers are often
an effective alternative as a part of the final cover system for municipal solid waste landfills.
Understanding the working principles of capillary barriers provides the necessary guidelines
for engineering design of variously configured barrier systems under different soil and
climatic conditions.

Infiltration

Fine Soil layer Analysis Area

Runoff Along Interface
Suspended Water

Coarse Soil Layer

Figure 8.10 Suspension and diversion of infiltrating water by two-layer capillary

barrier system. suspended water located above flat interface. is at hydrostatic equilibrium.
runoff diverted along inclined interface is under steady-stat e flow conditions.
8.4.2 Flat Capillary Barriers
The working principles of capillary barriers can be illustrated through a relatively simple
equilibrium analysis of head within a two-layer system under hydrostatic conditions.
Consider the progressive accumulation of water in an area within the fine layer of Fig.
8.10 located above the coarse layer, shown within the dashed circle. Figure 8.11
conceptualizes the interface at this location as a thin transitional zone where
equilibrium considerations may be applied. The transition between the fine soil layer
and the coarse soil layer is idealized as a cone-shaped pore with radii on either side
corresponding to the average pore sizes of the fine and coarse layers. In each stage of
water accumulation, the hydrostatic, or no-flow, equilibrium condition is assumed. This
leads to a constant head in the vertical direction where the water phase is continuous. If it is
assumed that the solid-liquid contact angle in both soil layers is zero (o = 0) and the air
pressure is a zero reference value (u, = 0), then mechanical equilibrium at the air-water-
solid interface in the fine soil requires the following to be true when the suspended water
lens is infinitesimally thin (Fig. 8.11a):

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 8.11 Hydrostatic equilibrium of capillary water near interface of fine soil—
course soil capillary barrier system: (a) thin suspended water layer, (b) intermediate
suspended water layer, and (c) water layer at threshold of breakthrough.
(8. 12)

where uwt is the pore water pressure at a point near the air-water Interface in the fine
soil, and rfine a representative pore radius for the fine soil. Similarly, mechanical equilibrium
at the air-water-solid interface near the bottom of the water lens leads to

2P
ivh " (8.13)

which is equal to the pore pressure near the top since the water lens is infinitesimally thin
(i.e., uwt= uwh)
As the overlying water lens becomes thicker as shown in Fig. 8.11 b, the total head
buildup due to gravity requires the pore water to move slightly into the transitional zone
between the fine arid coarse layers. The pore pressure near the bottom of the lens is
greater than that near the top by an amount proportional to the thickness of the water lens
and pωg. At mechanical equilibrium, the pore pressure near the bottom of the water lens
becomes

(8.14)

where rtran is the equilibrium radius in the transition zone. Since rtran is generally
smaller than the representative radius of the coarse soil rcoarse , but larger than the
representative radius of the fine oil rfine, the pore pressure described by eq. (S.14) is
less than the water-entry pressure of the coarse soil. The water-entry pressure of the
coarse soil, defined as the pressure at which water begins to enter the coarse soil layer,
can be expressed as

2T,
(8.15)

As the thickness of the water lens progressively increases under infiltration from the
ground surface, the pore pressure near the bottom of the water lens increases and the
wetting front progressively advances to a new equilibrium position. When this pressure
is equal to the water-entry pressure of the coarse layer, the wetting front advances to the
position at the end of the transition zone (Fig. 8.11c). Here, the mechanical equilibrium
is at a breakthrough threshold that leads to
where hc is the “breakthrough,” or critical, head. At this point, the capillary barrier
fails and water flows into the coarse soil if any additional water is added into the
system, persisting for as long as the following condition is satisfied:

(8.17)

It is instructive to recognize that in the proceeding stages of Figs. 8.11a

8.11b, and 8.11c, the total head (or pore pressure at z = z 0) increases as the
thickness of water lens increases. The first term on the right-hand side of the above
condition controls the magnitude of the minimum pore water pressure. The second
term controls the maximum pore water pressure (see pressure profile in Fig. 8.1 l
c). Accordingly, the larger the difference between the two terms, the more effective
the capillary barrier. It follows that the ideal capillary barrier consists of two soils
with a sharp disparity in pore size or particle size. Each should also have a
relatively uniform particle size distribution to minimize the possibility or
overlapping pore sizes.
The soil-water characteristic curve becomes a useful constitutive parameter for
the design of capillary barrier systems. For a perfectly wetting material, the
representative pore radius rfine may be related to the air-entry pressure value u b or
the parameter α used to model the soil-water characteristic curve in many
mathematical formulations (Chapter 12):

(S. I Si

Similarly, the representative pore radius for the coarse soil r coarse may be related
to the water-entry pressure uw which has been suggested to be half of the air-entry
pressure (Bouwer, 1966):

(8.19

Given eqs. (8.18) and (8.19), eq. (8.17) can be written as

2
(8.20)
 Example Problem 8.1 If the overlying line soil layer in a flat two-layer
capillary barrier system is a silty sand with «t„, = 0.29 kPa ', the coarse soil layer is
a sandy gravel with acoarse npq = 29 kPa-1 ', and both soils are considered perfectly
wetting materials, estimate the maximum thickness tit' the water Jens prior to
breakthrough failure.

Solution: From eq. (8.20), the maximum thickness of the water lens is

h,

2
(1000 kg/m”) (9.8 m/s2) (0.029 m2/N)
= 0.352 m — 0.tl07 m — 0 345 m

The above calculation shows that the pressure head in the coarse stir I is negligible
in comparison with the pre8surc head in the fine soil. Thus, the maximum thickness of
the suspended water in the fine soil can be s reply estimated as

If a nonzero contact angle a is considered, the maximum height of the suspended

water will be decreased by a factor of cos a

(S.22)

For example, if the soil considered in Example Problem 8.1 has a contact angle of
60°, a possible value for initially dry silty soil under wetting conditions, the maximum
thickness of the suspended water would be decreased from 0.345 to 0.173 m.

8.4.3 Dipping Capillary Barriers

Flat capillary barriers may not be effective if the coarse soil is prewetted, if there is a
continuous downward infiltration, or if fingering flow exists due to heterogeneity in
the overlying fine soil. One effective way to significantly improve the performance of
capillary barriers is to dip the interface between the two layers.
In the regions off Fig. 8.10 where the interface between the two soils is inclined,
the flow of water may be confined within the fine layer and subsequently forced to run
along the dipping portions of the interface under the combined forces of capillary and
gravity. Figure 5.12 illustrates the flow field in a natural dipping capillary barrier
system under steady-state flow conditions. To preserve the notion used in the literature,
the angle of the dip is denoted θ.
 Figure 8.12 Steady-state flow field in dipping two-layer capillary barrier system.

Consider the pore pressure variation along the dipping interface within the fine soil.
Near the top of the dipping interface, the suction in the fine soil is higher (more
negative) than that in the underlying coarse soil. Accordingly. water flows along the
interface. The magnitude of lateral flow increases along the down dip direction because the
volume of infiltration increases, leading to a decrease in section in the fine soil. At a
sufficiently far location along the interface, the suction is equal to the water-entry
pressure of the coarse soil and the water begins to break through the capillary barrier
and flow downward into the coarse soil. The lateral distance from the highest portion of’
the dipping Carrier (left side of Fig. 8.12) to the point of breakthrough is referred to as
the diversion width ( L). The total flux of water that is diverted is called the diversion
capacity Q. Diversion capacity Q is equal to qL, where q is the steady infiltration flux.
Both diversion width and diversion capacity depend on the unsaturated hydrologic
properties of the fine and coarse soil, the system geometry including the distance to the
ground surface and the water table, the angle of dip θ, and the uniform steady flux at a
position far from the interface. Quantitative relationships among these quantities can
be established by solving the steady how equation introduced in the precious section.
Ross (1990), for example, assumed that the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity
functions for both the coarse and fine soil could be described as exponential functions
in the form

Ross (1990) then analytically solved eq. (3.6) to arrive at an upper bound I or the
diversion capacity and diversion width of a dipping capillary barrier system as
follows:

(8.23)

(8.24)

This approach was broadened by Steenhuis et al. (1991) to include the air-entry
head of the fine soil layer h a . f i n e and the water-entry head hw.coarse of the coarse layer
using the following model for the hydraulic conductivity function:

k=

which allowed the hollowing solution for diversion width:

(8.2b)
 where the diversion capacity from eq. (8.26) is

(8.27)

The above expressions are more appropriate when the air-entry head is nonzero. If
the exchangeability between the term l /ywα and the parameter ha is recognized, the
above expressions become

(8.25)

The water-entry head hw has also been related to air-entry head hu but consensus or
this relationship has not been reached. Bouwer (1966), tier example, suggested that
the air-entry head is twice the water-entry head, while Walter et at. (2000) suggest
that the air-entry head is equal to the water- entry head. For fi„ = fi„/2, expressions
(8.25) and (8.29) become

(8.30) ,. Q
2q .«›‹lr

(8.31J

and for hw =ha, expressions (5.28) and (5.29) become

(5.32)

(8.S3)

For an ideal capillary harrier, the air-entry head of the coarse soil is much smaller
than that of the fine soil and the maximum diversion width becomes

(5.34)

For design purposes, the efficiency of a capillary barrier may be defined as ω=

L/Lmax. Combining eq. (8.32) and eq. (8.34), therefore, leads to

A less conservative expression for the ratio of h a.fine/ha.coarse can be derived by

combining eq. (5.30) and eq. (8.34):
(8.36)

Both eq. (8.35) and eq. (8.36) provide practical design guidelines for soil involved
in capillary barrier systems. For example, if 90% barrier efficiency were required, the
ratio of the air-entry head between the find and coarse soil according to eq. (5.35)
would tie at least 5.0. The ratio of the air-entry head between the fine and coarse soil
according to eq. (8.36) would be at least 2.5.