Soil-Water Characteristic Curves (SWCC) for Lime Treated Expansive Soil from Mosul City

This paper aimed to study the behavior of soil-water characteristic curve SWCC (studied range 50–325000 kPa) for three expansive soils selected from Mosul city. The effect of lime treatment was also studied on SWCC. The studied variables were soil type, compaction effort, compaction state, lime percent and curing time (up to 150 days). A prepared computer program by the authors was used to fit the obtained experimental data depending on Gardener, Van Genuchten, Fredlund & Xing equations. Test results show that all SWCCs have S-shape curve, and the water holding capacity was increased due to the increase in clay fraction, compaction effort, compaction state in the sequence of (wet of optimum, optimum, dry of optimum), lime percent and curing time. The program shows that Fredlund and Xing equation best fit the experimental data.