Definition
Capillarity in soils refers to the upward flow of water above the groundwater table.
This natural phenomenon of prevailing ascent of water in soil pores was compared, from the first decades of research, with the capillary rise of water in fine bore tubes (Fredlund and Rahardjo 1993). In order to describe this state of water movement in soils, a capillary model must be defined in terms of capillary height and capillary pressure (see Fig. 1).
Capillary model. (a) Natural situation. (b) Thin tube filled with fine sand. (c) Water pressure distribution. (d) Capillary water distribution
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Brooks RH, Corey AT (1966) Properties of porous media affecting fluid flow. J Irrig Drain E-ASCE 92(IR2):61–88
Florea MN (1980) Soil and rock mechanics. Ed. Tehnicã, Bucharest. (in Romanian)
Fredlund DG, Rahardjo H (1993) Soil mechanics for unsaturated soils. Wiley, New York
van Genuchten MT (1980) A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 44(5):892–898
Hogentogler CA, Barber ES (1941) Discussion in soil water phenomena. Proc HWY Res Board 21:452–465
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Stãnciucu, M. (2018). Capillarity. In: Bobrowsky, P.T., Marker, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Engineering Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73568-9_42
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73568-9_42
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73566-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-73568-9
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences