Abstract
The present research is funded by the French National Project « TerreDurable », which is dedicated to the study of soils in quasi-saturated conditions (close to saturation) for the analysis of stability and settlement of earth structures such as embankment, dams. A global presentation of the drying-wetting test shows the volume change, air entry and soil-water characteristics of the soil at slurry and oven-dried conditions. Unsaturated undrained triaxial test was carried out in order to investigate the variation of pore-water pressure from quasi-saturated domain to saturation. The experimental results of the triaxial test are then modeled using a two-dimensional explicit finite difference program (Flac 2D). A constitutive law developed in the TerreDurable project allows better understanding the behaviour of quasi-saturated soils using the water retention curve of quasi-saturated domain proposed by Boutonnier (2007, 2010). A simple effective stress model is used (Cam Clay) by taking into account both the suction and the compressibility of equivalent fluid (water + air). The results from numerical calculation and experimental measurements are compared.
Highlights
Due to the complexity of microstructure, heterogeneity and soil suction, it is usually difficult for the engineers to measure and control effectively the parameters that affect the engineering behaviour of compacted clayey soils
We attempt to present 1) some experimental results such as the SWCC, unsaturated undrained triaxial test of a compacted clayey soil whose degree of saturation is close to unit; 2) a numerical approach based on the Cambridge-model to model the experimental results; 3) a comparison of the experimental results and the numerical model
The triaxial test by axis-translation method is complemented by a standard triaxial test for high values of (σ3 - ua) with a null value of ua
Summary
Due to the complexity of microstructure, heterogeneity and soil suction, it is usually difficult for the engineers to measure and control effectively the parameters that affect the engineering behaviour of compacted clayey soils. Experimental studies of these soils in laboratory are useful to a better understanding of their hydro-mechanical behaviour and to guide the practice
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