Framework to estimate the soil-water characteristic curve for soils with different void ratios

Abstract

The soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) contains information regarding the geometric pore space in a soil and is commonly used to estimate unsaturated soil properties, such as unsaturated hydraulic conductivity and unsaturated shear strength. Soil volume change can significantly affect the SWCC and the engineering properties of soil. Different SWCCs can be obtained if the soil specimens are prepared with different initial void ratios. The volumetric shrinkage curve (VSC) is commonly used to convert the SWCC in the form of gravimetric water content (w-SWCC) into a curve that is in the form of degree of saturation (S-SWCC). In this paper, a framework is developed in which different S-SWCCs are generated based on the measured w-SWCC of soil in a relatively loose condition and the VSC. The proposed framework is based on the concept of the pore size distribution function (PSDF). The estimated SWCCs corresponding to different initial void ratios from the proposed framework were verified by using experimental data from published studies.