Technical Notes
Dec 15, 2021

A Novel Hysteretic Soil–Water Retention Model with Contact Angle-Dependent Capillarity

Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 22, Issue 2

Abstract

Considering the hydraulic hysteresis caused by the change of contact angle at the soil–capillary water interface during the drying–wetting processes, this note proposes a novel hysteretic water-retention model. Compared with the previous studies, the model can take into account two distinct mechanisms, i.e., capillarity and adsorption, separately. The capillarity instead of adsorption is related to the contact angle hysteresis. Based on the Young–Laplace equation and the conjugate point on the main drying–wetting curve, the scanning equation is determined for the capillary part. It is evident that the new model is able to capture the hydraulic hysteresis behavior by comparing against experimental data from the published literature.

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Acknowledgments

The first and second authors acknowledge the supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41877252).

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Go to International Journal of Geomechanics
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 22Issue 2February 2022

History

Received: Apr 7, 2021
Accepted: Oct 25, 2021
Published online: Dec 15, 2021
Published in print: Feb 1, 2022
Discussion open until: May 15, 2022

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Authors

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Zhiqiang Lin [email protected]
Graduate Student, Dept. of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji Univ., Shanghai 200092, China. Email: [email protected]
Jiangu Qian [email protected]
Professor, Dept. of Geotechnical Eng., Tongji Univ., Shanghai 200092, China; College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Xinjiang Univ., Urumqi 830047, China (corresponding author). Email: [email protected]
Associate Professor, Key Laboratory for RC and PRC Structures of the Ministry of Education, Southeast Univ., Nanjing 210096, China. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0003-4619-2821. Email: [email protected]

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Cited by

  • Tensile Strength Framework for Unsaturated Coarse- and Fine-Grained Soils, International Journal of Geomechanics, 10.1061/IJGNAI.GMENG-7801, 23, 7, (2023).
  • Bi-linear strength envelope of coarse- and fine-grained unsaturated soils with bimodal water-retention curve, Engineering Geology, 10.1016/j.enggeo.2022.106694, 304, (106694), (2022).
  • Estimation of the unsaturated shear strength of expansive soils in relation to capillary water-retention curve, Computers and Geotechnics, 10.1016/j.compgeo.2022.104735, 146, (104735), (2022).

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