Pitfalls in Interpretation of Gravimetric Water Content–Based Soil-Water Characteristic Curve for Deformable Porous Media
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 16, Issue 6
Abstract
Pitfalls in the common approaches to obtaining material parameters from soil-water characteristic curves (SWCCs) are discussed, and the typical mistakes made in the literature are highlighted. Particular attention is given to the evaluation of the air-entry value (AEV) from the gravimetric water content–based SWCCs. A consistent graphical approach for the determination of AEV based on an understanding of the effects of stress history and volume change on gravimetric water retention behavior is presented. The robustness and application of the approach are demonstrated using an extensive set of experimental data from the literature.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Abriola, L. M., and Pinder, G. F. (1985). “A multiphase approach to the modeling of porous media contamination by organic compounds. 1. Equation development.” Water Resour. Res., 21(1), 11–18.
Aitchison, G. D. (1961). “Relationships of moisture stress and effective stress functions in unsaturated soils.” Pore pressure and suction in soils, Butterworths, London, 47–52.
Alonso, E. E., Gens, A., and Josa, A. (1990). “A constitutive model for partially saturated soils.” Géotechnique, 40(3), 405–430.
ASTM. (2009). “Standard test methods for laboratory determination of density (unit weight) of soil specimens.” Standard D7263-09, West Conshohocken, PA.
Barbour, S. L. (1998). “Nineteenth Canadian Geotechnical Colloquium: The soil-water characteristic curve: A historical perspective.” Can. Geotech. J., 35(5), 873–894.
Biarez, J., Fleureau, J. M., Zerhouni, M. I., and Soepandji, B. S. (1987). “Variations de volume des sols argileux lors de cycles de drainage-humidification [Variations in the volume of clayey soils from drainage-dampening cycles].” Rev. Fr. Geotech., 41, 63–72.
Bishop, A. W. (1959). “The effective stress principle.” Teknisk Ukeblad, 39: 859–863.
Brooks, R. H., and Corey, A. T. 1964. Hydraulic properties of porous media. Hydrology Papers, Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO.
Cafaro, F. (2002). “Metastable states of silty clays during drying.” Can. Geotech. J., 39(4), 992–999.
Campbell, G. S. (1974). “A simple method for determining unsaturated conductivity from moisture retention data.” Soil Sci., 117(6), 311–314.
Celia, M. A., Bouloutas, E. T., and Zarba, R. L. (1990). “A general mass-conservative numerical solution for the unsaturated flow equation.” Water Resour. Res., 26(7), 1483–1496.
Cunningham, M. R., Ridley, A. M., Dineen, K., and Burland, J. B. (2003). “The mechanical behaviour of a reconstituted unsaturated silty clay.” Géotechnique, 53(2), 183–194.
Dagan, G., and Bresler, E. (1983). “Unsaturated flow in spatially variable fields. 1. Derivation of models of infiltration and redistribution.” Water Resour. Res., 19(2), 413–420.
Dexter, A. R. (2004). “Soil physical quality: Part I. Theory, effects of soil texture, density, and organic matter, and effects on root growth.” Geoderma, 120(3–4), 201–214.
Dexter, A. R., and Bird, N. R. A. (2001). “Methods for predicting the optimum and the range of soil water contents for tillage based on the water retention curve.” Soil Tillage Res., 57(4), 203–212.
Fleureau, J. M., Kheirbek-Saoud, S., Soemitro, R., and Taibi, S. (1993). “Behavior of clayey soils on drying-wetting paths.” Can. Geotech. J., 30(2), 287–296.
Fredlund, D., Morgenstern, N., and Widger, R. (1978). “The shear strength of unsaturated soils.” Can. Geotech. J., 15(3), 313–321.
Fredlund, D. G., and Houston, S. L. (2013). “Interpretation of soil-water characteristic curves when volume change occurs as soil suction is changed. Advances in unsaturated soils, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 15–31.
Fredlund, D. G., Rahardjo, H., Leong, E. C., and Ng, C. W. W. (2001). “Suggestions and recommendations for the interpretation of soil-water characteristic curves.” Proc., 14th Southeast Asian Geotechnical Conf., Swets and Zeitlinger, Lisse, Switzerland, 503–508.
Fredlund, D. G., and Xing, A. (1994). “Equations for the soil-water characteristic curve.” Can. Geotech. J., 31(4), 521–532.
Guan, G., Rahardjo, H., and Choon, L. (2010). “Shear strength equations for unsaturated soil under drying and wetting.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 594–606.
Hillel, D. 1980. Fundamentals of soil physics. Academic Press London.
Jensen, K. H., and Falta, R. M. (2013). “Fundamentals.” Soil and groundwater contamination: Nonaqueous phase liquids–principles and observations, American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, 5–45.
Jotisankasa, A. 2005. “Collapse behaviour of a compacted silty clay.” Ph.D. thesis, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, Univ. of London, London.
Khalili, N., Geiser, F., and Blight, G. E. (2004). “Effective stress in unsaturated soils: Review with new evidence.” Int. J. Geomech., 115–126.
Khalili, N., Habte, M. A., and Zargarbashi, S. (2008). “A fully coupled flow deformation model for cyclic analysis of unsaturated soils including hydraulic and mechanical hystereses.” Comput. Geotech., 35(6), 872–889.
Khalili, N., and Khabbaz, M. H. (1998). “A unique relationship for χ for the determination of the shear strength of unsaturated soils.” Géotechnique, 48(5), 681–687.
Khoshghalb, A., and Khalili, N. (2013). “A meshfree method for fully coupled analysis of flow and deformation in unsaturated porous media.” Int. J. Numer. Anal. Methods Geomech., 37(7), 716–743.
Leong, E. C., and Rahardjo, H. (1997). “Review of soil-water characteristic curve equations.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 1106–1117.
Liu, C., and Muraleetharan, K. K. (2012a). “Coupled hydro-mechanical elastoplastic constitutive model for unsaturated sands and silts. I: Formulation.” Int J. Geomech., 239–247.
Liu, C., and Muraleetharan, K. K. (2012b). “Coupled hydro-mechanical elastoplastic constitutive model for unsaturated sands and silts. II: Integration, calibration, and validation.” Int. J. Geomech., 248–259.
Loret, B., and Khalili, N. (2000). “A three-phase model for unsaturated soils.” Int. J. Numer. Anal. Methods Geomech., 24(11), 893–927.
Lu, N., and Likos, W. J. (2004). Unsaturated soil mechanics. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ.
Lu, N., and Likos, W. J. (2006). “Suction stress characteristic curve for unsaturated soil.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 131–142.
Matyas, E. L., and Radhakrishna, H. S. (1968). “Volume change characteristics of partially saturated soils.” Géotechnique, 18(4), 432–448.
Mercer, J. W., and Cohen, R. M. (1990). “A review of immiscible fluids in the subsurface: Properties, models, characterization and remediation.” J. Contam. Hydrol., 6(2), 107–163.
Miller, G. A., Khoury, C. N., Muraleetharan, K. K., Liu, C., and Kibbey, T. C. G. (2008). “Effects of soil skeleton deformations on hysteretic soil water characteristic curves: Experiments and simulations.” Water Resour. Res., 44(5).
Mualem, Y. (1976). “A new model for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated porous media.” Water Resour. Res., 12(3), 513–522.
Ng, C., and Pang, Y. (2000). “Influence of stress state on soil-water characteristics and slope stability.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 157–166.
Or, D., and Tuller, M. (1999). “Liquid retention and interfacial area in variably saturated porous media: Upscaling from single-pore to sample-scale model.” Water Resour. Res., 35(12), 3591–3605.
Parker, J. C. (1989). “Multiphase flow and transport in porous media.” Rev. Geophys., 27(3), 311–328.
Parker, J. C., Lenhard, R. J., and Kuppusamy, T. (1987). “A parametric model for constitutive properties governing multiphase flow in porous media.” Water Resour. Res., 23(4), 618–624.
Peaceman, D. 1977. Fundamentals of numerical reservoir simulation, Elsevier, New York.
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.
Russell, A. R., and Khalili, N. (2006). “A unified bounding surface plasticity model for unsaturated soils.” Int. J. Numer. Anal. Methods Geomech., 30(3), 181–212.
Salimzadeh, S., and Khalili, N. (2014). “Consolidation of unsaturated lumpy clays.” J. Geo-eng. Sci., 2(1), 67–82.
Saxton, K. E., Rawls, W. J., Romberger, J. S., and Papendick, R. I. (1986). “Estimating generalized soil-water characteristics from texture.” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 50(4), 1031–1036.
Sillers, W. S., Fredlund, D., and Zakerzadeh, N. (2001a). “Mathematical attributes of some soil-water characteristic curve models.” Unsaturated soil concepts and their application in geotechnical practice, D. G. Toll, ed., Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 243–283.
Sillers, W. S., Fredlund, D. G., and Zakerzaheh, N. (2001b). “Mathematical attributes of some soil-water characteristic curve models.” Geotech. Geol. Eng., 19(3–4), 243–283.
SoilVision [Computer software]. SoilVision Systems Ltd., Saskatoon, Canada.
Vanapalli, S., Fredlund, D., and Pufahl, D. (1999). “The influence of soil structure and stress history on the soil–water characteristics of a compacted till.” Géotechnique, 49(2), 143–159.
Vanapalli, S. K., Fredlund, D. G., Pufahl, D. E., and Clifton, A. W. (1996). “Model for the prediction of shear strength with respect to soil suction.” Can. Geotech. J., 33(3), 379–392.
Vanapalli, S., Sillers, W., and Fredlund, M. (1998). “The meaning and relevance of residual state to unsaturated soils.” 51st Canadian Geotechnical Conf., BiTech Publishers Ltd., Richmond, BC, Canada.
van Genuchten, M. T. (1980). “A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils.” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 44(5), 892–898.
Zargarbashi, S., and Khalili, N. (2011). “Discussion of ‘Shear strength equations for unsaturated soil under drying and wetting’ by Goh Shin Guan, Harianto Rahardjo, and Leong Eng Choon.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 1310–1313.
Zhai, Q., and Rahardjo, H. (2012). “Determination of soil-water characteristic curve variables.” Comput. Geotech., 42, 37–43.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 30, 2014
Accepted: Jun 24, 2015
Published online: Dec 17, 2015
Discussion open until: May 17, 2016
Published in print: Dec 1, 2016
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.