A Nonviscous Water-Based Pore Fluid for Modeling With Transparent Soils

A new low viscosity transparent soil recipe was introduced in this note for the physical modeling of geotechnical problems. Pore fluid is a water-based solution made of sodium-thiosulfate treated sodium-iodide. The soil surrogate is crushed fused quartz. Physical and mechanical properties of the proposed materials were summarized, including refractive index (RI) and viscosity of the pore fluid, as well as hydraulic conductivity and shear strength of the produced transparent soil. The main advantages of the proposed transparent soil over previous recipes include lower viscosity, lower sensitivity to temperature variations, and the ability to recycle the materials for use in multiple tests.