Abstract
For the unsaturated soil in Feidong China, this study examined the suction stress characteristics based on the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC), which was different from traditional research ideas. At the same time, the unsaturated consolidation device was adopted for SWCC tests, with consideration of the influence of yielding stress of soil, which was different from the traditional test approach of the soil-water characteristic curve. The results were estimated using the van Genuchten model, which was revealed that this is well-fit for the studied unsaturated soil, and the triaxial shear-strength tests were conducted with suction control. Then, the suction stress characteristic curve (SSCC) was analyzed, and SWCC-predicted data were compared with triaxial test-derived suction stress data. For the studied unsaturated soil, the deviatoric stress increased with the net inner stress p − u a at the same matric suction. At the same net inner pressure, the deviatoric stress increased with the matric suction, which verified the hardening activity of matric suction on the tested unsaturated soil strength. Besides, triaxial test-derived suction stress data greatly conformed to SWCC data-derived SSCC that was determined using identical parameters used in the SWCC model.
Highlights
The soil-water characteristic and effective stress characteristic are the most important characteristics for unsaturated soil, which have an important influence on the mechanical behavior of unsaturated soil
The soil-water characteristic could be described by soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC), and the effective stress characteristic could be described by the suction stress characteristic curve (SSCC) [1,2]
Considering the influence of yielding stress, SWCC tests were conducted for the studied unsaturated soil using the unsaturated soil consolidation apparatus, and the net vertical stress was controlled at a yielding stress of 200 kPa
Summary
The soil-water characteristic and effective stress characteristic are the most important characteristics for unsaturated soil, which have an important influence on the mechanical behavior of unsaturated soil. The soil-water characteristic could be described by soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC), and the effective stress characteristic could be described by the suction stress characteristic curve (SSCC) [1,2]. Shao et al [4] carried out four sets of suctioncontrolled tests, and the influence of the matric suction and intermediate principal stress parameter were analyzed [4]. The present work investigated those soil-water curve features by the use of suction stress and yield stress curves in the presence of diverse stresses by laboratory tests for unsaturated clay soil of airport engineering in the Hefei area, and the engineering mechanical properties of the soil were analyzed.
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