• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.169-177
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• 2004

The permeation movements of groundwater recharge and contaminate materials receive a eat effect due to porosity and effective porosity of porous media which is composing underground consisted of saturation and unsaturated states. This study developed Frequency Domain Reflectometry(FDR) system and measurement sensor, and then carried out the laboratory experiments to measure effective porosity for unsaturated porous media. Also, I suggested dielectric mixing models(DMMs) which can calculate the effective porosity from relation of measured dielectric constants. In the experimental results the extent range of effective porosity of standard sand and river sand which are unsaturated soil sample were measured in about 65∼85 % for porosity. In relation of effective porosity and porosity, especially, effective porosity confirmed that displays decreasing a little tendency as porosity increases. This is because unsaturated soil did not reach in saturation enough by air of very small amount that exist in pore between soil particles.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.419-428
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• 2003

In order to evaluate groundwater movement and the infiltration of contaminants, such as petroleum products, the determination of porosity and effective porosity is very important. Porosity and effective porosity are important physical parameters that determine the transfer and movement of water and solutes in porous media. Various methods of determining these parameters have been developed, with varying degrees of accuracy and applicability. Most of the existing methods produce static results. They do not produce instantaneous and real time of porosity and effective porosity in a porous media. In this study, we used a new permittivity method called Frequency Domain Reflectometry with Vector analyzer (FDR-V) to determine the porosity and effective porosity of some sand samples in the laboratory. The advantage of the FDR-V method is that it instantaneously determines the temporal variation of dielectric constants of porous media. Then, the porosity and the effective porosity of porous media are computed using well established empirical equations. Results obtained from the FDR-V method compared favorably with results from other permittivity methods such as gravimetric, injection and replacement tests. The ratio of effective porosity to porosity was 85 - 92 %, when FDR-V was used. This value compared favourably with 90 %, which has been usually quoted in previous studies. Considering the convenience and its applicability, the EDR-V permittivity holds a great potential in porous media and contaminant transport studies.