scholarly journals SWCC of Calcareous Silty Sand Under Different Fines Contents and dry Densities

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian-Hua Shen ◽  
Ming-Jian Hu ◽  
Xing Wang ◽  
Chen-Yang Zhang ◽  
Dong-Sheng Xu

Investigating the soil-water characteristics of calcareous soil has a great significance for preventing geological disasters on island-reefs as well as maintaining the foundation stability of hydraulic-filled island-reefs. In this study, calcareous silty sands with different fines contents and dry densities were studied to reveal their effects on the soil-water characteristics of calcareous soil on hydraulic-filled island-reefs. The soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) of the calcareous silty sand was measured using a pressure plate apparatus. Taking into account the porous meso-structure, the effects of fines content and dry density on the SWCC of calcareous silty sand were analyzed, and the applicability of existing SWCC models to calcareous silty sand was verified. A SWCC model suitable for assessing soil-water characteristic of calcareous silty sand was proposed. Results of this study provide some reference for quantifying the water-holding capacity of calcareous silty sand.

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 230-240
Author(s):  
Ling Zeng ◽  
Fan Li ◽  
Jie Liu ◽  
Qianfeng Gao ◽  
Hanbing Bian

Abstract The soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) is often used to estimate unsaturated soil properties (e.g. strength, permeability, volume change, solute and thermal diffusivity). The SWCC of soil samples is significantly affected by cyclic wetting-drying. To examine how water content and cyclic wetting-drying affect the SWCC of disintegrated carbonaceous mudstone (DCM), SWCC tests were implemented using a pressure-plate apparatus. In addition, SWCC models for DCM considering the initial gravimetric water content and cyclic wetting-drying were developed. The test results showed that the volumetric water content (θ) of the DCM first decreased rapidly and then became stable as matric suction (s) increased. The initial water content affected the SWCC by altering the pore structure of the DCM. For a given number of wetting-drying cycles, the higher the initial water content, the higher the stabilized θ. At a given s value, θ decreased as the number of wetting-drying cycles increased, which suggests that cyclic wetting-drying reduces the water-holding capacity of DCM. The Gardner model for DCM was constructed considering initial water content and cyclic wetting-drying, and was effective at describing and predicting the SWCC model for DCM.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Wang ◽  
Tonglu Li ◽  
Chenxi Zhao ◽  
Xiaokun Hou ◽  
Ping Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Compacted loess soil is used as a geo-material in many engineering projects such as building foundations and highway embankments. Water infiltration characteristics and post settlement of the compacted loess in large construction projects of Northwest China have received increasing attention from researchers and investors. These behaviors are closely related to the soil water characteristics. This study aims to investigate the soil water characteristic curves (SWCCs) of compacted loess soil with different dry densities and to reveal the responsible micro-mechanisms for soil water characteristics. Loess soil collected from the new district of Yan'an City, China, is prepared into five dry density groups. The SWCC of each group in the suction range of 0–100,000 kPa is measured using the filter paper method (FPM). Two-dimensional (2D) images and the pore size distribution (PSD) curves of the specimens are tested by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the mercury pressure method (MIP), respectively. The results of this study highlight that the compaction behavior mainly influences the pores with a radius ( r ) in the range of 1–10 μm, and has no influence on the pores of r < 0.5 μm. The particle shapes among the five dry densities groups are similar. The characteristics of the PSD curves of the compacted loess soil correspond well to the SWCCs. The suction of the SWCCs increases with increasing dry density in the lower suction range of 0–100 kPa. In contrast, suction among the five dry density groups is almost identical in the suction range exceeding 100 kPa. The results of the study are helpful to understand the SWCC and microstructure characteristics of compacted loess with different dry densities.


2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 1209-1217 ◽  
Author(s):  
R M Khanzode ◽  
S K Vanapalli ◽  
D G Fredlund

Considerably long periods of time are required to measure soil-water characteristic curves using conventional equipment such as pressure plate apparatus or a Tempe cell. A commercially available, small-scale medical centrifuge with a swinging type rotor assembly was used to measure the soil-water characteristic curves on statically compacted, fine-grained soil specimens. A specimen holder was specially designed to obtain multiple sets of water content versus suction data for measuring the soil-water characteristic curve at a single speed of rotation of the centrifuge. The soil-water characteristic curves were measured for three different types of fine-grained soils. The three soils used in the study were processed silt (liquid limit, wL = 24%; plasticity index, Ip = 0; and clay = 7%), Indian Head till (wL = 35.5%, Ip = 17%, and clay = 30%), and Regina clay (wL = 75.5%, Ip = 21%, and clay = 70%). The soil-water characteristic curves for the above soils were measured in 0.5, 1, and 2 days, respectively, using the centrifuge technique for suction ranges from 0 to 600 kPa. Time periods of 2, 4–6, and 16 weeks were required for measuring the soil-water characteristic curves for the same soils using a conventional pressure plate apparatus. There is reasonably good agreement between the experimental results obtained by the centrifuge and the pressure plate methods. The results of this study are encouraging as soil-water characteristic curves can be measured in a reduced time period when using a small-scale centrifuge.Key words: unsaturated soils, soil-water characteristic curve, centrifuge technique, soil suction, matric suction, water content.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Yu Wang ◽  
Tonglu Li ◽  
Ping Li ◽  
Yulu Lei ◽  
David D. Lawrence

To investigate the effect of dry density on the soil-water characteristics of compacted soil, loess used as filling in the land-making project of the Yan’an new district was collected and compacted to five initial dry densities of 1.40, 1.50, 1.60, 1.70, and 1.80 g/cm3, respectively. The soil-water characteristic curves (SWCCs) of all specimens in the range of 0–105 kPa were measured using the filter paper method. The measured data were fitted using the Fredlund and Xing equation for each initial dry density. The SWCCs have obvious differences in a suction range below 100 kPa and overlap when the suction range is higher. This suggests that the SWCC of compacted soil is independent of the initial dry density in the high suction range, but the correlation with the initial dry density exists in the low suction range. Therefore, the correlation functions of the parameters in the Fredlund and Xing equation with respect to the initial dry density were regressed, respectively. By substituting these functions into the Fredlund and Xing equation, the state surface function of θ w − ψ − ρ d was obtained and can reflect the SWCCs of all densities of the filled soil to support the further investigation of the unsaturated behavior of compacted soil.


2000 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 1252-1264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles WW Ng ◽  
Y W Pang

Rain-induced landslides are common around the world. To analyse transient seepage and to predict pore-water pressure distribution in unsaturated slopes subjected to rainfall infiltration, it is essential to study soil-water characteristics and water permeability functions. The soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) is a relationship between suction and water content or degree of saturation. Conventionally, only the drying soil-water characteristic curve of soil specimens is determined in a pressure-plate extractor without the application of any external stress. In this paper, the influences of initial dry density and initial water content, history of drying and wetting, soil structure, and the stress state upon the desorption and adsorption soil-water characteristics of a completely decomposed volcanic soil in Hong Kong are examined and discussed. The experimental results presented are obtained by using a conventional volumetric pressure-plate extractor and a newly modified one-dimensional stress-controllable pressure-plate extractor with deformation measurements. The SWCC of a recompacted specimen is very different from that of a natural specimen with the same initial soil density and initial water content. The SWCC of the recompacted specimen is highly dependent on the history of drying and wetting. The rates of desorption and adsorption are substantially higher at the first drying and wetting cycle than at the second drying and wetting cycle. The size of the hysteresis loop of the recompacted specimen is considerably larger than that of the natural specimens. The SWCC of soil is stress-state dependent. For recompacted specimens subjected to different stress states, the higher the applied stresses, the lower the rate of desorption and the smaller the size of the hysteresis loops. However, for natural specimens, the size of the hysteresis loops seems to be independent of the stress state. Under a higher applied stress, natural specimens exhibit lower rates of desorption and adsorption.Key words: volcanic soil, SWCC, drying and wetting, stress-state dependent.


Author(s):  
Pan Hu ◽  
Qing Yang ◽  
Maotian Luan

The soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) is a widely used experimental means for assessing fundamental properties of unsaturated soils for a wide range of soil suction values. The study of SWCC is helpful because some properties of unsaturated soils can be predicted from it. Nowadays, much attention has been paid to the behaviours of highly compacted bentonite-sand mixtures used in engineering barriers for high level radioactive nuclear waste disposal. It is very important to study the various performances of bentonite-sand mixtures in order to insure the safety of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) repository. After an introduction to vapor phase method and osmotic technique, a laboratory study has been carried out on compacted bentonite-sand mixtures. The SWCC of bentonite-sand mixtures has been obtained and analyzed. The results show that the vapor phase method and osmotic technique is suitable to the unsaturated soils with high and low suction.


2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (8) ◽  
pp. 17-28
Author(s):  
Young-Seok Jung ◽  
Hee-Dong Sa ◽  
Seonghun Kang ◽  
Se-Boong Oh ◽  
Jong-Sub Lee

2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (9) ◽  
pp. 1331-1344 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.M. Yan ◽  
Guanghui Zhang

Experiments were undertaken to study the soil-water characteristics of compacted sandy soil (SS) and cemented soil (CS) in field and laboratory conditions. The influence of vegetation and material density on the development of negative pore-water pressure (PWP) and degree of saturation (Sr) in the studied materials was investigated. The field planting experiments demonstrated a promising survival rate of Schefflera heptaphylla in both types of material, while the (SS) promoted better growth of the seedlings than the cemented one. In the field study, PWP and Sr of the compacted SS responded noticeably and promptly to natural drying–wetting cycles. However, the responses in the CS were relatively mild. When subjected to the same drying–wetting cycles, PWP responded more slowly and to a smaller magnitude compared with that of the uncemented counterpart. In addition, Sr changed little in CS. An increase in the density of the SS promoted rapid development of negative PWP, while an opposite trend was observed for CS. Attempts have been made to explain the observations from the perspectives of material permeability and change in water content during a drying period in both soil types. Furthermore, in SS, the development of PWP (with a measurement limit of −90 kPa) was minimally affected by the presence of vegetation, while vegetation noticeably helped the development of negative PWP in CS. Bounds of the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCCs) of the studied materials were presented based on estimates from the drying and wetting scanning curves derived from the field monitoring. A corresponding laboratory study was carried out in an environmental chamber with controllable temperature and humidity. Monitoring results from the laboratory agreed qualitatively with those obtained from the field.


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