Hydration/dehydration behaviour of geosynthetic clay liners in the Antarctic environment

This paper examines the hydration/dehydration behaviour of geosynthetic clay liner (GCL) under polar conditions for four simulated conditions experienced at Australia's Casey Station in Antarctica: (a) hydration during summer, (b) dehydration during a winter-summer cycle, (c) hydration through a fine Antarctic soil, and (d) hydration through a coarse Antarctic soil. Hydration during the summer is found to occur if there is direct contact with the water table. In contrast, the low relative humidity of the environment tends to dehydrate the GCL along a path that depends on the field conditions the GCL is exposed to. Hydration from either fine or coarse Antarctica soil is function of the original gravimetric water content of the subgrade soil and its grain size distribution as well as the low relative humidity prevailing in Antarctica.