Three-Dimensional Model for Moisture and Volume Changes Prediction in Expansive Soils
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 131, Issue 3
Abstract
A three-dimensional moisture diffusion and volume change model Suction heave (SUCH) is described. The model SUCH is capable of predicting soil moisture changes in terms of soil suction and the resulting volume changes (shrink/heave) in expansive soils under a covered area (e.g., flexible slab model) with respect to time when the supporting soil mass is subjected to different edge conditions that commonly cause moisture changes (e.g., climate, trees, ponded water). The moisture movement in unsaturated soils model was based on Mitchell’s diffusion equation for soil suction and the volume changes (shrink/heave) calculation was based on Wray’s model. The model SUCH was validated against field data from four test sites in three countries (i.e., United States, Saudi Arabia, and Australia) with widely varying climatic and soil conditions. In each of these widely diverse sites, the moisture diffusion and volume change model SUCH was shown to be valid.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 131 • Issue 3 • March 2005
Pages: 311 - 324
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 25, 1998
Accepted: Jul 11, 2003
Published online: Mar 1, 2005
Published in print: Mar 2005
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