Dynamic Response of Unsaturated Non-Collapsible and Collapsible Deposits

This paper presents a micro-mechanical study of the response of unsaturated non-collapsible and collapsible soil deposits when subjected to a dynamic base excitation. The discrete element method was employed to idealize the soil skeleton. The effects of interparticle water bridges in a pendular state were modeled using suction forces. Periodic boundaries in the two lateral directions (El Shamy, 2004) and a high gravitational field were used to reduce the number of particles, required to achieve a realistic simulation of a soil deposit, to a computationally manageable value. Numerical simulations were conducted to assess the impact of moisture content on the dynamically induced settlements of unsaturated non-collapsible and collapsible soil deposits. The outcome of these simulations provided a valuable insight on the associated response mechanisms.