Suction-Controlled Laboratory Test on Resilient Modulus of Unsaturated Compacted Subgrade Soils
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 9
Abstract
Conventionally, the resilient modulus test is conducted in the laboratory under different moisture content in which matric suction is unknown during the test. To investigate the influence of the matric suction on the resilient modulus, this study integrated the suction-controlled testing system and developed a modified testing procedure for the resilient modulus test of unsaturated subgrade soils. Based on the axis-translation technique, two cohesive soils were tested to investigate the effect of matric suction on resilient modulus. In the modified testing procedure, in order to fulfill the equilibrium in matric suction, the number of load cycles at each loading sequence of the resilient modulus test (AASHTO T 292-91) needs to be increased significantly. Experimental data indicate that matric suctions measured in the specimen after consolidation and resilient modulus tests are consistent with the matric suctions deduced from the soil-water characteristic curve corresponding to the same moisture content. In general, the resilient modulus obtained by the suction-controlled resilient modulus test appears to be reasonable. The trends of resilient modulus obtained by the suction-controlled resilient modulus test are consistent with those obtained by the conventional resilient modulus test. However, the suction-controlled resilient modulus test provides better insights that can help in interpreting the test results.
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Acknowledgments
This research was funded by the National Science Council of the Republic of China (Taiwan) under Project Nos. NSCTNSC-93-2211-011-011 and NSCTNSC-93-2211-008-030. This support is gratefully acknowledged. The writers would also like to thank Mr. Lin Jian-Liang’s for his effort on the experimental work presented in this paper.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 9 • September 2008
Pages: 1375 - 1384
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: May 11, 2007
Accepted: Dec 26, 2007
Published online: Sep 1, 2008
Published in print: Sep 2008
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