Influence of Initial Water Content and Specimen Thickness on the SWCC of Fine-Grained Soils
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 13, Issue 6
Abstract
Earlier researchers have demonstrated that the compaction effort and water content, type of soil and mineralogy, void ratio, fabric, and stress history influence the soil-water characteristics curve (SWCC) of fine-grained soils to a great extent. However, it should be noted that compacting the soil and retrieving specimens from the compacted mass for suction measurements is a tedious task. Also, many times, identical soil specimens with similar compaction states may result in varied pore-size distribution characteristics. Hence, for establishing the SWCC, soil specimens in the form of slurry of adequate consistency would be quite handy, particularly for maintaining uniformity in specimen preparation. With this in view, the current study was carried out to understand the influence of initial water content on the SWCC and to recommend its best suited value for conducting experiments. It has also been noted that suction measurement devices, such as pressure membrane extractor and the dew point potentiameter WP4, have limitations associated with the thickness of the specimen, which may become an important and deciding parameter. Hence, in this study, SWCCs were established for commercially available kaolin and bentonite clays by varying the initial water contents and thickness of their specimens. Details of the methodologies adopted for these investigations are presented in this paper. These investigations reveal that the initial water content influences only the initial portion of the SWCC for soil suction less than 500 kPa, while the specimen thickness does not significantly influence the shape of the SWCC. It has also been demonstrated that specimens prepared from the initial slurried state facilitate uniformity in suction measurements.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
ASTM. (2002). “Standard test methods for determination of the soil water characteristic curve for desorption using hanging column, pressure extractor, chilled mirror hygrometer, or centrifuge.” D6836-02, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2004). “Standard test method for shrinkage factors of soils by the mercury displacement method.” D427-98, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2005). “Standard test methods for liquid limit, plastic limit, and plasticity index of soil.” D4318-10, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2006). “Standard test method for specific gravity of soil solids by gas pycnometer.” D5550-06, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2007). “Standard test method for particle size analysis of soils.” D422-63, West Conshohocken, PA.
Azam, S., Abduljauwad, S. N., Al-Shayea, N. A., and Baghabra Al-Amoudi, O. S. (2000). “Effect of calcium sulphate on swelling potential of an expansive clay.” Geotech Test J., 23(4), 389–403.
Bulut, R., and Leong, E. G. (2008). “Indirect measurement of suction.” Geotech. Geol. Eng., 26(6), 633–644.
Decagon Devices. (2002). WP4 user’s manual, Decagon Devices, Pullman, WA.
Delage, P., and Lefebvre, G. (1984). “Study of the structure of a sensitive Champlain clay and of its evolution during consolidation.” Can. Geotech. J., 21(1), 21–35.
Farouk, A. L., and Lamboj, J. K. (2004). “A numerical model to predict matric suction inside unsaturated soils.” Acta Polytech., 44(4), 3–10.
Fredlund, D. G., Fredlund, M. G., and Wilson, G. W. (1997). “Prediction of the soil-water characteristic curve from grain-size distribution and volume-mass properties.” 3rd Brazilian Symp. on Unsaturated Soils, Freitas Editora, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1–12.
Fredlund, D. G., and Rahardjo, H. (1993). Soil mechanics for unsaturated soils, Wiley, New York.
Fredlund, D. G., and Sedgwick, A. (2011). “Determination of water storage and permeability functions of oil sands tailings.” Proc., Int. Conf. on Tailings and Mine Waste, Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering, Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Fredlund, M. D., Wilson, G. W., and Fredlund, D. G. (2002). “Use of grain size distribution curve for estimation of the soil water characteristics curve.” Can. Geotech. J., 39(5), 1103–1117.
Fredlund, D. G., and Xing, A. (1994). “Equations for the soil-water characteristic curve.” Can. Geotech. J., 31(4), 521–532.
Frydman, S., and Baker, R. (2009). “Theoretical soil-water characteristic curves based on adsorption, cavitation, and a double porosity model.” Int. J. Geomech., 9(6), 250–257.
Garbulewski, K., and Zakowicz, S. (1995). “Suction as an indicator of soil expansive potential.” Proc., 1st Int. Conf. on Unsaturated Soils, Vol. 2, Balkema, Taylor and Francis Group, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 593–597.
Gumaste, S. D., and Singh, D. N. (2010). “Application of impedance spectroscopy for determining fabric anisotropy of fine-grained soils.” J. Test. Eval., 38(3), 309–318.
Hanumantha Rao, B., and Singh, D. N. (2010). “Application of thermal flux for establishing soil-water characteristic curve of kaolin.” Geomech. Geoeng., 5(4), 259–266.
Kawai, K., Karube, D., and Kato, S. (2000). “The model of water retention curve considering effects of void ratio.” Proc., Asian Conf. on Unsaturated Soils, Balkema, Taylor and Francis Group, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 329–334.
Leong, E. C., and Rahardjo, H. (1997). “Permeability functions for unsaturated soils.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 123(12), 1118–1126.
Leong, E. C., Tripathy, S., and Rahardjo, R. (2003). “Total suction measurement of unsaturated soils with a device using the chilled-mirror dew-point technique.” Geotechnique, 53(2), 173–182.
Mabirizi, D., and Bulut, R. (2009). “A comparison of total suction measurements with thermocouple psychrometer, filter paper technique and chilled-mirror device.” Characterization, modeling, and performance of geomaterials, Geotechnical special publication 189, ASCE, Reston, VA, 1–6.
Marinho, F. A. M. (2005). “Nature of soil-water characteristic curve for plastic soils.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 131(5), 654–661.
Marinho, F. A. M., and Chandler, R. J. (1993) “Aspects of the behavior of clays on drying.” Unsaturated soils, Geotechnical special publication 39, ASCE, Reston, VA, 77–90.
McKeen, R. G. (1992). “A model for predicting expansive soil behavior.” 7th Int. Conf. on Expansive Soils, Vol. 1, Texas Tech University Press, Lubbock, TX, 1–6.
Miller, C. J., Yesiller, N., Yaldo, K., and Merayyan, S. (2002). “Impact of soil type and compaction conditions on soil water characteristic.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 128(9), 733–742.
Ng, C. W. W., and Pang, Y. W. (2000a). “Influence of stress state on soil-water characteristic and slope stability.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 126(2), 157–166.
Ng, C. W. W., and Pang, Y. W. (2000b). “Experimental investigations of the soil-water characteristics of a volcanic soil.” Can. Geotech. J., 37(6), 1252–1264.
Noh, J. H., Lee, S. R., and Park, H. (2011). “Prediction of cryo-SWCC during freezing based on pore size distribution.” Int. J. Geomech., 12(4), 428–438.
Pham, H. Q., and Fredlund, D. G. (2008). “Equations for the entire soil-water characteristic curve of a volume change soil.” Can. Geotech. J., 45(4), 443–453.
Pham, H. Q., and Fredlund, D. G. (2011). “Volume-mass unsaturated soil constitutive model for drying-wetting under isotropic loading-unloading conditions.” Can. Geotech. J., 48(2), 280–313.
Rahardjo, H., Chang, M. F., and Lim, T. T. (1995). “Shear strength and in situ matric suction of a residual soil.” Proc., 1st Int. Conf. on Unsaturated Soils, Vol. 2, Balkema, Taylor and Francis Group, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 637–643.
Rao, B. H., and Singh, D. N. (2010). “Establishing soil-water characteristic curve of a fine-grained soil from electrical measurements.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 136(5), 751–754.
Rao, B. H., Venkataramana, K., and Singh, D. N. (2011). “Studies on determination of swelling properties of soils from suction measurements.” Can. Geotech. J., 48(3), 375–387.
Shah, P. H., Sreedeep, S., and Singh, D. N. (2006). “Evaluation of methodologies used for establishing soil-water characteristic curve.” J. ASTM Int., 3(6), 10.1520/JAI14084.
Sheng, D., and Fredlund, D. G. (2011). “Shear strength criteria for unsaturated soils.” Geotech. Geol. Eng., 29(2), 145–149.
Singh, D. N., and Kuriyan, S. J. (2002). “Estimation of hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils using a geotechnical centrifuge.” Can. Geotech. J., 39(3), 684–694.
Singh, D. N., and Kuriyan, S. J. (2003). “Estimation of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity using soil suction measurements obtained by an insertion tensiometer.” Can. Geotech. J., 40(2), 476–483.
Singh, D. N., Kuriyan, S. J., and Madhuri, V. (2001). “Application of a geotechnical centrifuge for estimation of unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity.” J. Test. Eval., 29(6), 556–562.
Sreedeep, S., and Singh, D. N. (2005). “A study to investigate the influence of soil properties on suction.” J. Test. Eval., 33(1), 1–6.
Sreedeep, S., and Singh, D. N. (2011). “A critical review of the methodologies employed for soil suction measurement.” Int. J. Geomech., 11(2), 99–104.
Tarantino, A., Ridley, A. M., and Toll, D. G. (2008). “Field measurement of suction, water content, and water permeability.” Geotech. Geol. Eng., 26(6), 751–782.
Thakur, V. K. S., Sreedeep, S., and Singh, D. N. (2005). “Parameters affecting soil–water characteristic curves of fine-grained soils.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 131(4), 521–524.
Thakur, V. K. S., Sreedeep, S., and Singh, D. N. (2006). “Laboratory investigations on extremely high suction measurements for fine-grained soils.” Geotech. Geol. Eng., 24(3), 565–578.
Tinjum, J. M., Benson, C. H., and Blotz, L. R. (1997). “Soil-water characteristic curve of compacted clays.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 123(11), 1060–1069.
Toker, N. K., Germaine, J. T., Sjoblom, K. J., and Culligan, P. J. (2004). “A new technique for rapid measurement of continuous soil moisture characteristic curves.” Geotechnique, 54(3), 179–186.
Uchaipichat, A., and Khalili, N. (2009). “Experimental investigation of thermo-hydro mechanical behaviour of an unsaturated silt.” Geotechnique, 59(4), 339–353.
USDA. (1954). “Diagnosis and improvement of saline and alkali soils.” Handbook No. 60, 7-33. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.
Vanapalli, S. K., Pufahl, D. E., and Fredlund, D. G. (1998). “The effect of stress state on the soil-water characteristic behavior of a compacted sandy-clay till.” Proc., 51st Canadian Geotechnical Conf., Canadian Geotechnical Society, Montreal, 81–86.
Vanapalli, S. K., Pufahl, D. E., and Fredlund, D. G. (1999). “The effect of soil structure and stress history on the soil-water characteristics of a compacted till.” Geotechnique, 49(2), 143–159.
Yang, H., Rahardjo, H., Leong, E. C., and Fredlund, D. G. (2004). “Factors affecting drying and wetting soil-water characteristic curves of sandy soils.” Can. Geotech. J., 41(5), 908–920.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 13 • Issue 6 • December 2013
Pages: 894 - 899
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 31, 2011
Accepted: Oct 12, 2012
Published online: Oct 13, 2012
Published in print: Dec 1, 2013
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.