Influence of Heavy Metal Contaminants on the Compressibility of Reconstituted Kaolinite

The study aims to investigate the influence of heavy metal contaminants on the compressibility of clays. Two one-dimensional consolidation tests were performed on reconstituted kaolinite samples with two types of pore fluids: distilled water and 2 mM Cu (NO3)2 solution. The influence of the heavy metal contaminants on compressibility (Cc, Cs, Cαe) was then examined. In order to investigate heavy metal ions interaction with the kaolinte used, a series of batch tests were conducted. In addition, prior to consolidation, the clay samples were tested for their microstructure by using scanning electron microscope observation (SEM) and mercury intrusion pore size distribution measurements (MIP). Furthermore, the permeability coefficient of the specimens can be estimated using Terzaghi’s one-dimensional consolidation theory. The first results tend to indicate that the permeability and compressibility of kaolinite were slightly affected when using the diluted Cu (NO3)2 solution.