scholarly journals State of practice for use of the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) in geotechnical engineering

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (8) ◽  
pp. 1059-1069 ◽  
Author(s):  
Delwyn G. Fredlund
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Unsaturated Soil ◽  
Soil Mechanics ◽  
Geotechnical Engineering ◽  
Characteristic Curve ◽  
Laboratory Measurement ◽  
Engineering Practice ◽  
Soil Water Characteristic Curve ◽  
Unsaturated Soil Mechanics ◽  
State Of Practice

Routine geotechnical engineering practice has witnessed a significant increase in the usage of unsaturated soil mechanics principles. Laboratory measurement of the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) for a soil has been labelled as a primary reason for the improved understanding of unsaturated soil behaviour. Laboratory measurement of the “shrinkage curve” has yielded further insight into the estimation of unsaturated soil property functions (USPFs). The USPFs provide the necessary information for the simultaneous numerical modeling of the saturated and unsaturated portions of the soil profile. This paper presents a state-of-practice summary of the engineering protocols that have emerged amidst the numerous research studies reported over the past couple of decades. It also introduces issues related to hysteresis associated with the SWCC and suggests a pathway forward.

The 1999 R.M. Hardy Lecture: The implementation of unsaturated soil mechanics into geotechnical engineering

2000 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 963-986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Delwyn G Fredlund
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Unsaturated Soil ◽  
Unsaturated Soils ◽  
Soil Property ◽  
Soil Mechanics ◽  
Geotechnical Engineering ◽  
Characteristic Curve ◽  
Engineering Practice ◽  
Soil Water Characteristic Curve ◽  
Unsaturated Soil Mechanics

The implementation of unsaturated soil mechanics into geotechnical engineering practice requires that there be a paradigm shift from classical soil mechanics methodology. The primary drawback to implementation has been the excessive costs required to experimentally measure unsaturated soil properties. The use of the soil-water characteristic curve has been shown to be the key to the implementation of unsaturated soil mechanics. Numerous techniques have been proposed and studied for the assessment of the soil-water characteristic curves. These techniques range from direct laboratory measurement to indirect estimation from grain-size curves and knowledge-based database systems. The soil-water characteristic curve can then be used for the estimation of unsaturated soil property functions. Theoretically based techniques have been proposed for the estimation of soil property functions such as (i) coefficient of permeability, (ii) water storage modulus, and (iii) shear strength. Gradually these estimations are producing acceptable procedures for geotechnical engineering practices for unsaturated soils. The moisture flux ground surface boundary condition is likewise becoming a part of the solution of most problems involving unsaturated soils. The implementation process for unsaturated soils will still require years of collaboration between researchers and practicing geotechnical engineers.Key words: unsaturated soil mechanics, soil suction, unsaturated soil property functions, negative pore-water pressure, matric suction, soil-water characteristic curve.

Influences of Deviatoric Stress on the Soil-Water Characteristic Curve

2011 ◽  
Vol 243-249 ◽  
pp. 2456-2459
Author(s):  
Xiang Wei Fang ◽  
Shu Ping Jiang ◽  
Chun Ni Shen ◽  
Yun Xie ◽  
Gang Li
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Unsaturated Soil ◽  
Soil Mechanics ◽  
Characteristic Curve ◽  
Deviatoric Stress ◽  
Mean Stress ◽  
Research Subjects ◽  
Shear Tests ◽  
Soil Water Characteristic Curve ◽  
Unsaturated Soil Mechanics

The soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) is one of the major research subjects in unsaturated soil mechanics. To study the influence of deviatoric stress on the SWCC of an unsaturated soil, a series of triaxial drained shear tests by controlling constant net mean stress and suction were conducted. It was found that the SWCC was dependent on deviatoric stress. A unified SWCC equation was proposed including not only water content and suction, but also net mean stress and deviatoric stress.

Use of the grain-size distribution for estimation of the soil-water characteristic curve

2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 1103-1117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Murray D Fredlund ◽  
G Ward Wilson ◽  
Delwyn G Fredlund
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Grain Size Distribution ◽  
Unsaturated Soil ◽  
Soil Property ◽  
Characteristic Curve ◽  
Engineering Practice ◽  
Soil Water Characteristic Curve ◽  
Mass Properties

The implementation of unsaturated soil mechanics into engineering practice is dependent, to a large extent, upon an ability to estimate unsaturated soil property functions. The soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC), along with the saturated soil properties, has proven to provide a satisfactory basis for estimating the permeability function and shear strength functions for an unsaturated soil. The volume change functions have not been totally defined nor applied in geotechnical engineering. The objective of this paper is to present a procedure for estimating the SWCC from information on the grain-size distribution and the volume–mass properties of a soil. SWCCs represent a continuous water content versus soil suction relationship. The proposed method provides an approximate means of estimating the desorption curve corresponding to a soil initially slurried near the liquid limit. The effects of stress history, fabric, confining pressure, and hysteresis are not addressed. A database of published data is used to verify the proposed procedure. The database contains independent measurements of the grain-size distribution and the SWCC. The level of fit between the estimated and measured SWCCs is analyzed statistically. The proposed procedure is compared to previously proposed methods for predicting the SWCC from the grain-size distribution. The results show that the proposed procedure is somewhat superior to previous methods.Key words: soil-water characteristic curve, grain-size distribution, volume-mass properties, pedo-transfer function, unsaturated soil property functions.

scholarly journals Estimating soil-water characteristic curve based on soil type and best-fitting regressions derived from a simplified method using Aburra Valley dataset

2021 ◽  
Vol 337 ◽  
pp. 02002
Author(s):  
Johnatan Ramos-Rivera ◽  
Daniel Parra-Holguín ◽  
Yamile Valencia-González ◽  
Oscar Echeverri-Ramírez
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Soil Mechanics ◽  
Characteristic Curve ◽  
Computer Code ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Soil Water Characteristic Curve ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Simplified Method ◽  
Unsaturated Soil Mechanics

In unsaturated soil mechanics, many attempts have been made to estimate the SWCC based on soil texture and grain-size distribution. This paper proposes a simplified method to estimate the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) for both coarse and fine-grained soils using SWCC data and machine learning computer code in the Aburra Valley. Fredlund and Xing parameters has been used to estimate the SWCC correlations. Soil samples collected from field survey were subjected to laboratory testing, SWCCs were estimated using filter paper method. Each SWCC data set from Aburra Valley was fitted with Fredlund and Xing curve using multiple regression analysis, correlations were derived for those four parameters based on predictors derived from machine learning. The proposed method gives a good estimation and low residual errors of the SWCC.

Soil Water Characteristic Curve and its Applications in Tunnel

2011 ◽  
Vol 261-263 ◽  
pp. 1039-1043
Author(s):  
Yu You Yang ◽  
Qin Xi Zhang ◽  
Gui He Wang ◽  
Jia Xing Yu
Keyword(s):  
Water Content ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Land Subsidence ◽  
Unsaturated Soil ◽  
Characteristic Curve ◽  
Tunnel Construction ◽  
Coupling Theory ◽  
Engineering Analysis ◽  
Soil Water Characteristic Curve ◽  
The Relationship

A soil water characteristic curve (SWCC) can describe the relationship between unsaturated soil matric suction and water content. By analyzing and researching the test data of the soil water characteristic curve researchers can initially establish the SWCC equation and apply this equation to the actual engineering analysis. In another words, this article is based on the fluid-solid coupling theory of unsaturated soil used to analyze and study the problem of land subsidence caused by tunnel construction. Numerical calculations show that the coupling results agree well with the measured curve works.

Study on the soil-water characteristic curve including stresses of an unsaturated soil

2010 ◽  
pp. 491-494
Author(s):  
Chun-Ni Shen ◽  
Xiang-Wei Fang ◽  
Zheng-Han Chen ◽  
Zheng-Bin Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Unsaturated Soil ◽  
Characteristic Curve ◽  
Soil Water Characteristic Curve

scholarly journals TERRE project: interplay between unsaturated soil mechanics and low-carbon geotechnical engineering

2020 ◽  
Vol 195 ◽  
pp. 01002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Tarantino ◽  
Grainne El Mountassir ◽  
Simon Wheeler ◽  
Domenico Gallipoli ◽  
Giacomo Russo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Unsaturated Soil ◽  
Soil Mechanics ◽  
Geotechnical Engineering ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Construction Sector ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Unsaturated Soil Mechanics ◽  
Low Carbon Technologies ◽  
Industry Sectors

The geotechnical construction industry is a major component of the overall construction sector and is strategically important in infrastructure development (transportation, flood and landslide protection, building foundations, waste disposal). Although industry and research in the overall construction sector have been investing significantly in recent years to produce innovative low-carbon technologies, little innovation has been created in geotechnical construction industry, which is lagging behind other construction industry sectors. This paper discusses the interplay between low-carbon geotechnical engineering and unsaturated soil mechanics based on the research carried out within the project TERRE (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks funded by the European Commission, 2015-2019,H2020-MSCA-ITN-2015-675762).

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