Shear Strength and Shear-Induced Volume Change Behavior of Unsaturated Soils from a Triaxial Test Program
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 11
Abstract
A series of unsaturated soil triaxial tests were performed on four soils including sand, silt, and a low plasticity clay. Attempts were made to correlate unsaturated soil properties from these tests and data from the literature with soil-water characteristics curve (SWCC), soil gradation, and saturated soil properties. The feasibility of estimating unsaturated soil property functions from saturated soil properties, SWCCs and gradation data, is demonstrated. A hyperbolic model for estimation of the unsaturated soil parameter, , versus matric suction is presented. Shear induced volume change behavior was also studied, and results are included in this paper. Although not correlated with soil index properties, these shear-induced volume change data are important to complete stress-deformation analyses, and represent a significant addition to the existing data base of unsaturated soil properties.
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Acknowledgments
This material is based in part upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. NSFCMS-0099800. Any opinions, finding, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 11 • November 2008
Pages: 1619 - 1632
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Accepted: Mar 6, 2006
Received: Jul 13, 2007
Published online: Nov 1, 2008
Published in print: Nov 2008
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