Correlation between Soil-Shrinkage Curve and Water-Retention Characteristics
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 9
Abstract
A soil-shrinkage curve (SSC) can be defined as the characteristic volume–water content relation under free external stress conditions. A SSC is traditionally divided into three characteristic states: normal shrinkage when soil is saturated, residual shrinkage when soil is unsaturated and subjected to volume reduction, and zero shrinkage when soil approaches the dry state. Using the measured SSC, soil water-retention (SWR) curve, and suction stress characteristic curve of various silty and clayey soils, the traditional states are found to be not well defined and incorrect, particularly when soil approaches the dry state. A conceptual model for SSC is proposed in which SSC can be divided into four states: capillary, pendular, adsorbed, and tightly adsorbed; each is governed by one or/and two SWR mechanisms: capillary and adsorption. The shrinkage rate, defined here as the change in void ratio due to the change in moisture ratio, is found to be not universally zero in adsorptive states. It is shown that the shrinkage rate in the adsorption SWR regime is highly correlated to SWR characteristics—namely, the specific surface area—or to cation-exchange capacity, or that total amount of adsorption water follows the same exponential form with the shrinkage rate.
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Acknowledgments
This research is sponsored by National Science Foundation grant (CMMI-1363315 and CMMI-1230544).
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 9 • September 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 15, 2016
Accepted: Mar 3, 2017
Published online: May 30, 2017
Published in print: Sep 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Oct 30, 2017
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