Pore water density in a saturated bentonite

Abstract

This paper reports the average pore water density (ρwp) measured on a Japanese bentonite, which was compacted to a dry density (ρd) range from 0·3 to 1·8 Mg/m3 and saturated under a water pressure of 2·7 MPa. It was found that ρwp monotonically increased from ∼1·0 Mg/m3 at ρd of 0·3 Mg/m3 to ∼1·23 Mg/m3 at ρd of 1·8 Mg/m3. A review of the available literature revealed that the methodology of accurately measuring ρwp in a full range of water content (w) is not available. An upper boundary of ρwp for montmorillonite was drawn, and proportions of water at different swelling states were estimated.