This paper analyses the effects of temperature on the quantification of soil water content by means of time domain reflectometry (TDR) method. For this purpose, the dielectric constant of soil specimens with known water content was measured at different temperatures in a range of 20–80°C. The soil types used in the present study were fine sand, sand-bentonite mixture (SBM), and sandy loam. For each soil type, the dielectric constant of at least three specimens having identical dry density but varying initial water content was measured at temperatures ranging from 20 to 80°C. The results obtained agree with previous studies showing that there are two competing phenomena during the measurement of soil water content by means of TDR: (i) The soil bulk dielectric constant increases with increasing temperature due to the release of bound water from soil solid particles and (ii) the soil bulk dielectric constant decreases with increasing temperature due to the temperature effect of free water molecules. Moreover, it has an existing equilibrium water content at which both competing phenomena compensate each other. However, for the SBM no equilibrium water content was found, but the dielectric constant increased significantly with the temperature for the whole water content range. This can be explained by the significant clay content and the high specific surface area, which leads to a dominating effect of the increase of soil bulk dielectric constant with increasing temperature.

This study aims to evaluate the relationship between saturated hydraulic conductivity with particle shape and packing density characteristics of silty sand soils. The article presents a series of hydraulics tests performed on three kinds of sand with different particles shapes (Chlef rounded sand, Fontainebleau sub-rounded sand and Hostun sub-angular sand) mixed with low plastic rounded Chlef silt in the range of 0–30% fines content. The sand–silt mixture samples were tested in the constant-head permeability device at a loose relative density (D_r = 18%) and a constant room temperature (T = 20 °C). The obtained results indicate that the measured saturated hydraulic conductivity (K_s) correlates very well with the fines content (F_c), packing density in terms of [maximum void ratio “e_max,” minimum void ratio “e_min,” predicted maximum void ratio “e_max”_pr and predicted minimum void ratio “e_min”_pr] and particle shape characteristics ratios in terms of roundness ratio (R_r = R_hs/R_mixture) and sphericity ratio (S_r = S_hs/S_mixture) of the silty sand materials under consideration. Moreover, the analysis of the available data show a noticeable success in exploring the prediction of the saturated hydraulic conductivity (K_s) based on the particle shape and packing density characteristics (R_r, S_r, e_max, and e_min) of the studied sand–silt mixture samples.