Tempe cell experiment to determine soil water characteristic curve of Krome soil

Samples being saturated from the bottom in DI water to which Thymol solution has been added. Samples should be shocked for between 3 days to 1 week. The ceramic plates should be shocked for at least 24 hours.

Kevin placing a ceramic plate into the bottom of the tempe cell, while Isaya, Tina and Robert watch. This should be done while all the pieces are submerged into a solution.

There should be no bubbles when looking into the bottom of the tempe cell. When bubbles were noticed, the pieces were re-assembled in solution.

While keeping the thumb finger on the horse outlet place the bottom of the tempe cell setup on to the core. Mike and Isaya happy after successfully assembling a tempe cell after several tries. With some little patience everything works great.

The cheese cloth was removed from the top of the cell and replaced with a wet paper towel. The setup was then left for 2 days to allow gravity water to drain.

Securing the tempe cell top on to the core. A good seal is important and o-rings should be greased.

Pressure regulators are used in adjusting pressures to the required settings. Water manometer is used for low pressure while the mercury manometer is used for high pressure. The tempe cell setup in our lab is designed for maximum pressures of 1 bar.

At each pressure setting, when equilibrium is reached (i.e., no more water drains) we measure the volume of water that has fallen from the tempe to the measuring cylinder. We then use this information in generating the soil water characteristic curve.