CENTRIFUGE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DELFT

Simulation of pollution transport in soil. The advantage
of doing the test in a centrifuge is that a freatic surface
can be simulated in a small sample.
Aim: what is the behaviour of a coloured fluid in a horizontal
groundwater flow. Homogeneous and non-homogeneous soil layers can be used.

TEST SETUP

Diagram and photograph of the test setup. The groundwater flow is maintained by two computer controlled pumps. The water tables of the feeding and outlet reservoirs are controlled using the signal of pressure sensors. The water table in the reservoir can be controlled independently from each other. It is also possible to vary the water table of the outlet reservoir in time, e.g. as a sinus function. A third pump can be activated from the keyboard to inject coloured fluid. An additional electric valve is used to prevent reversed siphon operation of the injection system.

TEST

Two stages are shown; just after injection and half way the tets. The test is performed at 30 g. The transportation of the coloured fluid over the length of the model takes about 30 seconds.


Click here to see a movie during transportation of the coloured fluid.