Role of Temperature-Dependent Interfacial Tension on Shear Wave Velocity for Energy Geosystems

Interfacial tension varies with temperature. This paper investigates the effects of temperature-dependent interfacial tension on shear wave velocity. We designed a nylon cell equipped with bender elements in a cross-hole configuration to measure the shear wave velocity of nine sand–silt mixtures with different degrees of saturation (S = 0%, 2.5%, 5%, 10%, and 100%). All specimens were subjected to a temperature change from 10 °C to 1 °C. The results demonstrate that shear wave velocity tends to be very sensitive to changes in temperature at a low degree of saturation. Particle-scale analyses overlapped with the experimental results and captured the critical role of temperature-dependent interfacial tension in small-strain skeletal stiffness. In fact, the temperature should be considered during laboratory and field shear modulus measurements of the long-term performance of energy geosystems subjected to thermally induced repetitive loads.