Fractal Approach to Unsaturated Shear Strength
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 130, Issue 3
Abstract
Great efforts have been made to determine the shear strength of unsaturated soils using both elaborate laboratory tests and empirical methods. However, elaborate laboratory tests are difficult and time consuming to perform, and the physical meaning of empirical parameters is not obvious in empirical methods. A simple method to determine the unsaturated shear strength is proposed based on a fractal model for the pore surface. The unsaturated shear strength can be easily estimated using the surface fractal dimension and air-entry value, which can be calculated from the soil–water characteristic curves. The unsaturated shear strength obtained from the proposed method is in satisfactory agreement with the experimental data found in the literature. The proposed method is critically examined and its advantages and limitations are also discussed.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 130 • Issue 3 • March 2004
Pages: 264 - 273
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 1, 2002
Accepted: Jun 16, 2003
Published online: Feb 19, 2004
Published in print: Mar 2004
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