Novel Approach to Determine Soil–Water Retention Surface
This article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYThis article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYPublication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 20, Issue 6
Abstract
Models have been developed to represent soils, thereby establishing the unsaturated soil theory. Accurate models include physical deductions based on soil properties. The soil–water retention surface (SWRS) represents the general soil–water retention curve (SWRC), considering the void ratio changes. This study presents a novel model that describes the surface physical behavior. The proposed model demonstrated physical consistency and dependence between the soil hydraulic properties and the void ratio. Additionally, sensitivity analyses were performed to verify the influence of soil parameters on the hydraulic behavior. Literature data of SWRCs at different void ratios were used to generate a 3D surface model by fitting the data points. A continuum SWRS of the specified soil was plotted, soil parameters were calculated, and SWRCs at different void ratios were analyzed. The mathematical relationship between the air-entry value of the soil and its void ratio was also defined. By modeling and validating literature experiments, the proposed model demonstrated the ability to accurately represent hydraulic properties of soils without excessive deformation due to suction increase.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
The code generated during the study to determine the soil–water retention surface is available from the corresponding author by request.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the support provided by the following institutions for funding this research: the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, Grant No. 304721/2017-4); Support Research of the Federal District Foundation (FAP-DF, Grant Nos. 0193.001563/2017 and 0193.002014/2017-68); Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Level Personnel (CAPES); and the University of Brasilia.
References
Brooks, R. H., and A. T. Corey. 1966. “Properties of porous media affecting fluid flow.” J. Irrig. Drain. Div. 92 (2): 61–90.
Cavalcante, A. L. B., and J. G. Zornberg. 2017. “Efficient approach to solving transient unsaturated flow problems. I: Analytical solutions.” Int. J. Geomech. 17 (7): 4017013. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0000875.
Chen, Y. 2018. “Soil–water retention curves derived as a function of soil dry density.” GeoHazards 1 (1): 3–19. https://doi.org/10.3390/geohazards1010002.
Fredlund, D. G., and H. Rahardjo. 1993. Soil mechanics for unsaturated soils. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Fredlund, D. G., H. Rahardjo, and M. D. Fredlund. 2012. Unsaturated soil mechanics in engineering practice. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Fredlund, D. G., and A. Xing. 1994. “Equations for the soil–water characteristic curve.” Can. Geotech. J. 31 (4): 521–532. https://doi.org/10.1139/t94-061.
Gallipoli, D., S. J. Wheeler, and M. Karstunen. 2003. “Modelling the variation of degree of saturation in a deformable unsaturated soil.” Géotechnique 53 (1): 105–112. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.2003.53.1.105.
Heshmati, A. A., and M. R. Motahari. 2012. “Identification of key parameters on soil water characteristic curve.” Life Sci. J. 9 (3): 1532–1537.
Hoyos, L. R., D. D. Perez-Ruiz, and A. J. Puppala. 2012. “Modeling unsaturated soil response under suction-controlled true triaxial stress paths.” Int. J. Geomech. 12 (3): 292–308. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0000159.
Huang, S., S. L. Barbour, and D. G. Fredlund. 1998. “Development and verification of a coefficient of permeability function for a deformable unsaturated soil.” Can. Geotech. J. 35 (3): 411–425. https://doi.org/10.1139/t98-010.
Karube, D., and K. Kawai. 2001. “The role of pore water in the mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils.” Geotech. Geol. Eng. 19 (3–4): 211–241. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013188200053.
Kawai, K., S. Kato, and D. Karube. 2000. “The model of water retention curve considering effects of void ratio.” In Proc., Asian Conf. on Unsaturated Soils, 329–334. Singapore: A.A. Balkema.
Kim, W. S., and R. H. Borden. 2011. “Influence of soil type and stress state on predicting shear strength of unsaturated soils using the soil–water characteristic curve.” Can. Geotech. J. 48 (12): 1886–1900. https://doi.org/10.1139/t11-082.
Li, L., X. Zhang, and P. Li. 2018. “Soil water retention surface determination using a new triaxial testing system.” In Proc., GeoShanghai Int. Conf., 87–94. Singapore: Springer.
Lu, N., and W. J. Likos. 2004. Unsaturated soil mechanics. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Matyas, E. L., and H. S. Radhakrishna. 1968. “Volume change characteristics of partially saturated soils.” Géotechnique 18 (4): 432–448. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.1968.18.4.432.
Plaisted, M. D. 2014. “Characterization of soil unsaturated flow properties using steady state centrifuge methods.” Doctoral dissertation, Dept. of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of Texas at Austin.
Quaglia, G. 2018. “Hydro-mechanical characterization of unsaturated clays using centrifuge technology.” Doctoral dissertation, Dept. of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of Texas at Austin.
Romero, E., and J. Vaunat. 2000. “Retention curves of deformable clays.” In Proc., Int. Workshop on Unsaturated Soils: Experimental Evidence and Theoretical Approaches in Unsaturated Soils, 91–106. Rotterdam, Netherlands: A.A. Balkema
Salager, S., M. El Youssoufi, and C. Saix. 2010. “Definition and experimental determination of a soil–water retention surface.” Can. Geotech. J. 47 (6): 609–622. https://doi.org/10.1139/T09-123.
Salager, S., M. Youssoufi, and C. Saix. 2007. “Experimental study of the water retention curve as a function of void ratio.” In Proc., Geo-Denver 2007: Computer Applications in Geotechnical Engineering, 1–10. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Skibinsky, D. N., and D. G. Fredlund. 1996. “A centrifuge method to obtain the soil–water characteristic curve.” In Vol. 2 of 49th Canadian Geotechnical Conf., 753–760. St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada: CANLEX.
Soltani, A., M. Azimi, A. Deng, and A. Taheri. 2019. “A simplified method for determination of the soil–water characteristic curve variables.” Int. J. Geotech. Eng. 13 (4): 316–325. https://doi.org/10.1080/19386362.2017.1344450.
Tarantino, A. 2009. “A water retention model for deformable soils.” Géotechnique 59 (9): 751–762. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.7.00118.
van Genuchten, M. T. 1980. “A closed-form equation for predicting hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils.” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 44 (5): 892–898. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj1980.03615995004400050002x.
Ye, Y., W. Zou, and Z. Han. 2018. “An insight into the projection characteristics of the soil–water retention surface.” Water 10 (12): 1717. https://doi.org/10.3390/w10121717.
Zhai, Q., and H. Rahardjo. 2012. “Determination of soil–water characteristic curve variables.” Comput. Geotech. 42: 37–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2011.11.010.
Zhou, C., and C. W. W. Ng. 2014. “A new and simple stress-dependent water retention model for unsaturated soil.” Comput. Geotech. 62: 216–222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2014.07.012.
Zornberg, J. G., and J. S. McCartney. 2010. “Centrifuge permeameter for unsaturated soils. I: Theoretical basis and experimental developments.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 136 (8): 1051–1063. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000319.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 20 • Issue 6 • June 2020
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 17, 2019
Accepted: Nov 12, 2019
Published online: Apr 3, 2020
Published in print: Jun 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Sep 3, 2020
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.