Soil–Water Retention Surface of Unsaturated Clay Incorporating Capillary Interface Area through Molecular Dynamics
Publication: Geo-Congress 2022
ABSTRACT
It has been recognized the capillary interface area has a profound impact on the capillary pressure and water retention capacity of unsaturated clay. This paper deals with the soil–water retention characteristics of unsaturated clay through full-scale molecular dynamics (MD) modeling. We run a series of MD simulations of unsaturated clay under drying and wetting conditions. The capillary interfacial area is measured through a numerical algorithm based on a point cloud technique. Based on the numerical results, we propose a relationship among pore water pressure, water–air interfacial area, and mass water content. The contribution of adsorption to pore water pressure is also quantified at the microscale based on density distribution.
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Geo-Congress 2022
Pages: 325 - 333
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© 2020 ASCE.
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Published online: Mar 17, 2022
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