Experimental investigation of evolving anisotropy in unsaturated soils

This paper investigates the ‘initial’ and ‘evolving’ mechanical anisotropy of a compacted unsaturated soil. Awide campaign of triaxial compression and extension tests, involving different stress and suction paths, has been performed on both isotropically and anisotropically compacted samples of unsaturated Speswhite kaolin. The first objective is the definition of the initial yield surface of the compacted soil after suction equalisation and before any plastic loading/wetting path takes place. This is followed by the investigation of the evolution of the yield surface induced by plastic straining along different loading/wetting paths. Experimental results are interpreted by using two alternative stress variables, namely net stresses σij and Bishop’s stress σ� ij ¼ σij þ δijSrs (where δij is Kronecker delta, Sr is the degree of saturation and s is suction). Constant suction cross-sections of the yield surface are represented as distorted ellipses not passing through the origin in the q:p plane of deviator stress plotted against mean net stress, and by distorted ellipses passing through the origin in the q:p* plane of deviator stress plotted against mean Bishop’s stress. The inclination of these distorted elliptical yield curves evolves with plastic straining but remains the same at all suction levels for a given level of plastic deformation. The critical state lines in the planes q:p and q:p*, or in the semi-logarithmic v:lnp and v:lnp* planes (v is the specific volume), are generally independent of initial anisotropy or stress history, suggesting that fabric memory tends to be erased at critical state

A coupled hydromechanical bounding surface model predicting the hysteretic behaviour of unsaturated soils

This paper presents a bounding surface model to predict the hydromechanical behaviour of unsaturated soils under isotropic stress states. The model combines the hydraulic law of Gallipoli et al. [8] with the mechanical law of Gallipoli and Bruno [9]. The hydraulic law relates the degree of saturation to the single variable scaled suction, which accounts for the effect of both suction and void ratio on the water retention behaviour of soils. The hydraulic law is made up of two closed-form equations, one for drying paths and one for wetting paths. Similarly, the mechanical law relates the void ratio to the single variable scaled stress, which accounts for the effect of both stress state and degree of saturation on the deformation of soils. The mechanical law is made up of two closed-form equations, one for loading paths and one for unloading paths. The proposed hydromechanical model is expressed in a finite form and has therefore the advantage of not requiring any approximate numerical integration. The model has been validated against four sets of laboratory data showing a good ability to predict the coupled behaviour of unsaturated soils (e.g. collapse-compression upon wetting) by means of a relatively small number of material parameters

Initiation of fluid-induced fracture in a thick-walled hollow permeable sphere

The initiation of fluid-induced fracture in formations of permeable geomaterials subjected to quasi-stationary flow processes (drained response) can be strongly affected by Biot's coefficient and the size of the formation. The aim of this paper is to analyse the influence of these parameters on the initial fracture process of a thick-walled hollow permeable sphere subjected to fluid injection in the hole. Assuming that fracture patterns are distributed uniformly during the hardening stage of the fracture initiation process, the coupled fluid-solid problem is described by a nonlinear ordinary differential equation, which is solved numerically by means of finite differences combined with shooting and Newton methods. The finite difference code has also been validated in the elastic range, i.e., before initiation of fracture, against an original closed-form analytical solution of the above differential equation. The results show that the nominal strength of the sphere increases with increasing Biot's coefficient and decreases with increasing size

Wetting of compacted clays under laterally restrained conditions:initial state, overburden pressure and mineralogy

International audienceCompacted clay fills are generally placed at the optimum value of water content and, immediately after placement, they are unsaturated. Wetting might subsequently occur due, for example, to rainfall infiltration, which can cause volumetric deformation of the fill (either swell or collapse) with associated loss of shear strength and structural integrity. If swelling takes place under partially restrained deformation, due for example to the presence of a buried rigid structure or a retaining wall, additional stresses will develop in the soil and these can be detrimental to the stability of walling elements and other building assets. Factors such as dry density, overburden pressure, compaction water content and type of clay are known to influence the development of stresses. This paper investigates these factors by means of an advanced stress path testing programme performed on four different clays with different mineralogy, index properties and geological histories. Specimens of kaolin clay, London Clay, Belfast Clay and Ampthill Clay were prepared at different initial states and subjected to `controlled' wetting, whereby the suction was reduced gradually to zero under laterally restrained conditions (i.e. K0 conditions). The results showed that the magnitude of the increase in horizontal stresses (and therefore the increase of K0) is influenced by the overburden pressure, compaction water content, dry density at the time of compaction and mineralogy

An elasto-plastic model for unsaturated soil incorporating the effects of suction and degree of saturation on mechanical behaviour

The paper presents an elasto-plastic model for unsaturated soils that takes explicitly into account the mechanisms with which suction affects mechanical behaviour as well as their dependence on degree of saturation. The proposed model is formulated in terms of two constitutive variables directly related to these suction mechanisms: the average skeleton stress, which includes the average fluid pressure acting on the soil pores, and an additional scalar constitutive variable, ξ, related to the magnitude of the bonding effect exerted by meniscus water at the inter-particle contacts. The formulation of the model in terms of variables closely related to specific behaviour mechanisms leads to a remarkable unification of experimental results of tests carried out with different suctions. The analysis of experimental isotropic compression data strongly suggests that the quotient between the void ratio, e, of an unsaturated soil and the void ratio es, corresponding to the saturated state at the same average soil skeleton stress, is a unique function of the bonding effect due to water menisci at the inter-particle contacts. The same result is obtained when examining critical states at different suctions. Based on these observations, an elasto-plastic constitutive model is developed using a single yield surface the size of which is controlled by volumetric hardening. In spite of this simplicity, it is shown that the model reproduces correctly many important features of unsaturated soil behaviour. It is especially remarkable that, although only one yield surface is used in the formulation of the model, the irreversible behaviour in wetting–drying cycles is well captured. Because of the behaviour normalisation achieved by the model, the resulting constitutive law is economical in terms of the number of tests required for parameter determination

A bounding surface hysteretic water retention model for deformable soils

The paper presents a soil water retention model that takes into account the effects of void ratio and hydraulic hysteresis on the variation of degree of saturation. Based on a modified form of the van Genuchten equation, the model defines two bounding surfaces, namely a main drying surface and a main wetting surface, which delimit the region of admissible soil states in the space of degree of saturation, suction and void ratio. Suction and void ratio are then combined into a single auxiliary variable, termed scaled suction, and the main surfaces are recast as main curves in the plane of degree of saturation and scaled suction. The effects of both suction and void ratio on the drying/wetting behaviour of the soil are simply incorporated by relating degree of saturation to scaled suction. The soil is dried when the scaled suction is increased and is wetted when the scaled suction is decreased. The model assumes that, inside the region of admissible soil states, the derivative of degree of saturation with respect to the scaled suction depends on the distance of the soil state from the main curves. This assumption ensures a smooth transition of the drying and wetting paths towards their respective main curves. Interestingly, the derivative of degree of saturation with respect to scaled suction can be integrated in a closed form and all wetting and drying paths can therefore be described by two explicit equations (one for drying paths and one for wetting paths), where different wetting or drying paths are characterised by different values of the integration constant. The integration of the model in a closed form facilitates its implementation into numerical codes. The model requires seven parameters, whose values can be obtained from a single drying\u2013wetting test. Predictions are validated against two different data sets published in the literature, which shows the capability of the model to capture the behaviour observed during laboratory tests on fine-grained soils

A comparative study of the effects of particle grading and compaction effort on the strength and stiffness of earth building materials at different humidity levels

This paper presents an investigation of the mechanical properties of three different earth building materials manufactured by compacting two soils with distinct particle size distributions under two markedly different efforts. Multiple samples of each material have been equalised either inside a climatic chamber at different humidity levels or oven-dried, before being subjected to shearing inside a triaxial cell to measure the corresponding levels of strength and stiffness. Triaxial shearing has been performed under different levels of radial stress to investigate the effect of material confinement inside thick walls. Consistent with previous research, the study has indicated that strength and stiffness increase as ambient humidity reduces and degree of saturation decreases, though the actual variation of these properties strongly depends on the dry density and clay content of the material. Most importantly, particle grading has emerged as a key material parameter, whose impact on earth building has often been overlooked. Particle grading appears to influence strength and stiffness even more than compaction effort, dry density and average particle size, which are usually quoted as the most important variables for the design of earth building materials

Advances in tensiometer-based suction control systems.

Cunningham (2000) and Jotisankasa (2005) pioneered the development of tensiometer-based suction control systems. In these systems, wetting and drying of the soil are achieved by water injection and circulation of air in contact with the specimen while suction is monitored by sample-mounted high suction tensiometers. Unlike the axis translation technique, these systems avoid using elevated air pressures and better reproduce the drying and wetting conditions occurring in the field. Building upon these earlier works, this pa-per describes an automated tensiometer-based suction control system that enables direct measurement of water content changes inside the sample. A diaphragm pump forces air to flow inside a closed loop that runs across the sample while a moisture trap ensures that the relative humidity of the circulating air is kept low. As the circulating air dries the soil, the amount of abstracted water is measured by continuous weighing of the desiccant inside the moisture trap. Wetting of the sample is instead achieved by controlled injection of water through a solenoid valve connected to a pressurized volume gauge. The changes of soil water content are given by the difference between the amounts of water injected by the volume gauge and that retained by the desiccant. The system is used to impose cycles of drying and wetting on compacted clayey specimens and results from preliminary tests are presented

Rainfall-induced differential settlements of foundations on heterogeneous unsaturated soils

This study stochastically investigates the rainfall-induced differential settlement of a centrally loaded, rigid strip foundation on an unsaturated soil with spatially varying values of either preconsolidation stress or porosity. The differential settlement (between the two foundation ends) is calculated at various times during rainfall by way of a coupled, hydro-mechanical, finite-element analysis. The Barcelona basic model describes the mechanical behaviour of the soil, and the van Genuchten relationships describe water retention and permeability. The variability of soil properties is modelled by means of random fields with spatial correlation in the framework of a Monte Carlo simulation. The study demonstrates that the occurrence of rainfall-induced differential settlements can be consistently analysed using concepts of unsaturated soil mechanics and random field theory. Results show that differential settlements can be vastly underpredicted (or even completely missed) if random heterogeneity and partial saturation are not simultaneously considered. The variation of differential settlements and their statistics during the rainfall depend on the magnitude of the applied load and the statistics of soil variability. Moreover, the transient phase of infiltration and a spatial correlation length equal to the width of the foundation pose the highest risk of differential settlement