Tensile Strength of Unsaturated Sand
Publication: Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 135, Issue 12
Abstract
A theory that accurately describes tensile strength of wet sand is presented. A closed form expression for tensile strength unifies tensile strength characteristics in all three water retention regimes: pendular, funicular, and capillary. Tensile strength characteristically increases as soil water content increases in the pendular regime, reaches a peak in the funicular regime, and reduces with a continuing water content increase in the capillary regime. Three parameters are employed in the theory: internal friction angle (at low normal stress) , the inverse value of the air-entry pressure , and the pore size spectrum parameter . The magnitude of peak tensile strength is dominantly controlled by the parameter. The saturation at which peak tensile strength occurs only depends on the pore size spectrum parameter . The closed form expression accords well with experimental water retention and tensile strength data for different sands.
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Acknowledgments
This research is partially funded by a grant from American Chemical Society (ACSACS-PRF 42688–A9) to the senior writer.
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© 2009 ASCE.
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Received: Jul 24, 2008
Accepted: Apr 24, 2009
Published online: Apr 29, 2009
Published in print: Dec 2009
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