Saturated Soil Properties Research Articles

Fractional derivative modelling for consolidation of multilayered saturated soils with interfacial thermal contact resistance subjected to time-dependent heating and loading

In this paper, the one-dimensional rheological consolidation characteristics of multilayered saturated soil foundations under time-dependent loading and heating are investigated by considering the semi-permeability and the interface thermal resistance. By introducing the fractional derivative model and the thermos-elastic theory, a thermo-mechanical coupling model is established to describe the rheological properties of saturated soils. Semi-analytical solutions for strain, temperature increment, pore water pressure and settlement were derived through the Laplace transform and its inverse. The accuracy of the solutions proposed in this paper has been verified by comparing with existing solutions. The effects of different thermal contact models of the interface on the rheological properties of saturated soils under semi-permeable boundary are discussed, and the effects of fractional derivative order, constitutive material parameters, and thermal conductivity of soil on the thermal consolidation process are investigated. The results show that: neglecting the thermal resistance effect can result in an overestimates of the impact of rheological properties on the thermal consolidation process of saturated soils under semi-permeable boundaries; As the thermal resistance coefficient increases, the influence of soil thermal conductivity on settlement decreases.

Correction Functions for Soil-Water Characteristics Curves Extending the Principles of Thermodynamics

The soil-water characteristics curve (SWCC) that is typically measured from laboratory tests is fit using mathematical models that are based on capillary law and used along with the saturated soil properties for predicting the hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils. Such SWCC models are valid for coarse-grained soils. However, the same models are also extended for modeling the SWCC of fine-grained soils over suction range from 0 to 106 kPa with a correction function. Due to this reason, SWCC models with correction functions have limitations in rigorous analyses of complex thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemo (THMC) behaviors of unsaturated soils, especially in the high suction range. In the present study, correction function is proposed for modeling the SWCC behavior using two widely models based on a theoretical framework extending the principles of thermodynamics. The relationships between the traditional and the proposed correction functions are discussed. Finally, comparisons are provided between the proposed and the traditional correction functions on the SWCC behavior to highlight their differences. In addition, the effects of temperature and salinity on the SWCC with correction functions are also summarized. The proposed correction function is a valuable tool for rigorous analyses and reliable prediction of the complex THMC behaviors of unsaturated soils.

Swelling and collapse behavior of expansive marl and its implications in foundation engineering

Expansive soils increase their volume upon wetting, but under high vertical stresses may exhibit collapse, with the latter aspect being rather overlooked in foundation engineering. Oedometer swelling/collapse tests on expansive Pliocene marls of various calcium carbonate content and plasticity index sampled from Nicosia, Cyprus, indicate that, unlike the free swelling strain, the swelling pressure is rather insensitive to the initial degree of saturation. Consequently, significant collapse strains upon wetting are not unlikely to occur in practical situations. The paper discusses the implications of this behavior in the case of shallow foundations and proposes methods of analysis. Under certain conditions, foundation design based on settlement calculations that use as input the fully saturated soil properties may be unconservative and supported structures may be exposed to severe risk of damage. For the design of mat foundations, stepwise distributions of the equivalent modulus of subgrade reaction across the mat as a function of the average bearing pressure are proposed based on the results of coupled finite element simulations. These distributions allow prediction of the peak bending moments produced at the end of the wet and dry seasons due to ground swelling and shrinkage, respectively, for the climatic conditions of Cyprus.

Influence of Unsaturated Hydraulic Properties on Transient Seepage and Stability Analysis of an Earthen Dam

Traditionally, the seepage through embankments and other geotechnical structures is estimated using the hydraulic properties of saturated soil. In most cases, the soil is not fully saturated, and the use of saturated soil properties can lead to erroneous results. A reliable assessment of slope stability needs comprehensive characterization of both unsaturated and hydraulic properties of saturated soil. The permeability coefficient of unsaturated soil is usually estimated using existing permeability models derived from the soil water characteristic curve (SWCC) of soil. The performance of these prediction models has not been consistent in the past. A proper determination of unsaturated soil permeability properties will be needed for better stability designs and checks of earth structures. In this study, an experimental program is designed to evaluate the influence of matric suction, net confining stress, and wetting and drying cycles on the hydraulic conductivity of a clayey soil over a wide range of suction values. Modified suction-controlled triaxial equipment was used to apply and maintain suction and hydraulic head in a soil specimen to measure the coefficient of permeability for drying and wetting cycles. Additionally, a series of fully coupled hydromechanic numerical analyses was performed to examine the effect of hydraulic properties of unsaturated soil on pore water pressure response and safety factors of slope for transient seepage conditions during drawdown. The effects of stress-dependent hydraulic properties and hydraulic hysteresis on transient seepage were also investigated. The findings from this study highlight the role of hydraulic properties of partially saturated soil in seepage and slope stability analysis of earthen dams.

Soil database development with the application of machine learning methods in soil properties prediction

Excessive rainwater infiltration can be an important causal agent of both slope and whole tree uprooting failures. Early warnings or stabilization measures on high-risk slopes or trees are critically important. To identify the high-risk areas, it is necessary to conduct seepage, slope and tree stability analyses over a large region. Given the spatial variability of soil properties, a soil database is therefore required before performing distributed or Geographical Information System (GIS) -based water balance and stability analyses. Considering that the unsaturated soil properties could be very different from saturated soil properties, in this study, a soil database containing both saturated and unsaturated hydraulic and mechanical soil properties was developed for the first time. Machine learning methods were used to predict the unknown soil properties. Based on the predicted soil properties, spatial distributions of different saturated and unsaturated soil properties were generated using the ordinary kriging method. Then the soil database was developed with Singapore island being divided into 97 zones, with each zone having similar soil properties. In this study, the importance of different input variables in soil properties prediction was also investigated. In addition to soil plasticity (i.e., Liquid Limit (LL), Plastic Limit (PL) and Plasticity Index (PI)) and grain size distribution (i.e., gravel, sand, and fines fractions), location (i.e., longitude and latitude) was found to be of high importance as well and are recommended to be used as input variables to predict soil properties, especially when data volume is relatively limited. For those soil properties that cover a large range of values, model performance is better when logarithm values were used as the outputs. Moreover, given the possible correlation between some output parameters, the prediction of the Soil-water Characteristic Curve (SWCC) from a multi-output model is recommended after comparing its performance with a single output model. Furthermore, the performance of two commonly used machine learning methods (i.e., random forest regression and artificial neural network) in soil properties prediction were compared and the prediction error resulting from the random forest regression method was generally smaller. The developed database includes the mean values of saturated permeability, saturated and unsaturated shear strength parameters, and SWCC in each zone. The database can be applied in regional GIS-based water balance and slope stability analyses to account for the spatial heterogeneity instead of assuming constant soil properties.

Application of ‘Estimation Procedures’ in Unsaturated Soil Mechanics

The application of unsaturated soil mechanics in routine geotechnical engineering applications requires the determination of unsaturated soil properties. Unfortunately, the cost of direct measurement of unsaturated soil properties goes beyond the financial budget of most clients. A solution has arisen, however, that involves the measurement of two less costly soil properties functions that can be used in conjunction with a series of assumptions and estimation methodologies. The two laboratory tests involve measurement of the: (i) gravimetric water content versus soil suction, referred to as the soil-water characteristic curve (w-SWCC) and (ii) water content versus void ratio, referred to as the shrinkage curve (SC). These two unsaturated soil property relationships can be used along with saturated soil properties to extend unsaturated soil properties over the full range of soil suctions. “Estimation procedures” have been developed and verified for all physical properties of interest in unsaturated soil mechanics. The use of estimation procedures has meant that the geotechnical engineer must operate within a new paradigm. The new paradigm provides sufficient accuracy for most geotechnical engineering applications. The net result is an increased decision-making capability for geotechnical engineers.

Uncertainty assessment in hydro-mechanical-coupled analysis of saturated porous medium applying fuzzy finite element method

The purpose of the present study was to develop a fuzzy finite element method, for uncertainty quantification of saturated soil properties on dynamic response of porous media, and also to discrete the coupled dynamic equations known as u-p hydro-mechanical equations. Input parameters included fuzzy numbers of Poisson’s ratio, Young’s modulus, and permeability coefficient as uncertain material of soil properties. Triangular membership functions were applied to obtain the intervals of input parameters in five membership grades, followed up by a minute examination of the effects of input parameters uncertainty on dynamic behavior of porous media. Calculations were for the optimized combinations of upper and lower bounds of input parameters to reveal soil response including displacement and pore water pressure via fuzzy numbers. Fuzzy analysis procedure was verified, and several numerical examples were analyzed by the developed method, including a dynamic analysis of elastic soil column and elastic foundation under ramp loading. Results indicated that the range of calculated displacements and pore pressure were dependent upon the number of fuzzy parameters and uncertainty of parameters within equations. Moreover, it was revealed that for the input variations looser sands were more sensitive than dense ones.

Ambient seismic noise

Rainfall-induced variations in pore water pressures are the most common sources of significant disasters like landslides, dams’ failure, and other structural collapses. This study aimed at communicating preliminary results of seasonal monitoring of the Sobradinho landslide, Brasilia, Brazil, using ambient seismic noise. The noise was recorded before, during and after the rainy season with three L4-3A seismometers (2Hz) installed in a triangular array at the landslide mass. These records were processed using horizontal to vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) technique. As it resulted from the performed analyses, two frequency (ubiquitous (2Hz) and iniquitous (>2Hz)) peaks were observed over HVSR curves. The fluctuations in the secondary peak of HVSR curves are possibly related to the saturated soil properties of landslide mass in response to seasonal meteorological conditions. Experiments with a denser observation system are required to validate such a further behavior. The proposed method can be used for the monitoring of landslides as well as civil engineering structures like dams, bridges,and building.

Variability in unsaturated hydraulic properties of residual soil in Singapore

Residual soil covers most of the land in Singapore and is commonly found in unsaturated conditions due to the deep ground water table. Matric suction in residual soil plays an important role on the stability of residual soil slopes against rainfall. Matric suction in the soil will change due to infiltration during rainfall, and infiltration is mainly controlled by the unsaturated hydraulic properties (i.e., soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) and hydraulic conductivity) of the residual soil. Variability in SWCC and hydraulic conductivity of residual soils in Singapore, such as Jurong Formation, Bukit Timah granite and Old Alluvium, were quantified and compared with the uncertainty of saturated soil properties. A new framework for the estimation of SWCC from the saturated hydraulic conductivity, ks, is proposed in this paper. The upper bound from the proposed framework is recommended for the infiltration analyses and the lower bound from the proposed framework is recommended for the slope stability analyses.

FIELD METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE ELASTIC AND RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF SOIL

Propossed method of determining the elastic (Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio) and reological (coefficient of consolidation) properties of saturated soils during their test compression. Its main difference from the known methods of Taylor and Casagrande - Full automation of the process of determining the properties of the soil.

A thermodynamic constitutive model for undrained monotonic and cyclic shear behavior of saturated soils

Based on a non-equilibrium thermodynamic approach, this paper has established a constitutive model for saturated soils different from the classical elasto-plastic model and other thermodynamics-based models. It does not require concepts such as yield surface and flow rule. Instead, through a quantitative description of the energy in the reversible and irreversible processes in materials, the constitutive relations have been obtained theoretically. Using the elastic potential energy function, the stress is expressed as a function of elastic strain. By introducing the granular entropy and locked energy concepts, the non-elastic strain evolution is determined according to the non-equilibrium thermodynamics. The model can describe many basic mechanical properties of saturated soils under monotonic and cyclic shear loadings, such as the stress state boundary, the critical state and especially the cyclic mechanical behavior. Based on this model, the paper simulates the cyclic undrained triaxial shear tests for saturated clays and analyzes the impact of factors that include cyclic stress ratio, OCR value and cyclic stress frequency. The simulation results are compared with experimental results in order to validate the model.

Four Electrode Resistivity Probe for Porosity Evaluation

Abstract The objective of this study is to develop and verify a four electrode resistivity probe (4ERP) for the estimation of electrical properties of saturated soils without polarization at the electrodes. The 4ERP design is categorized by two types: wedge and plane. The wedge type is used for penetrating into the soil samples and the plane type is used for installing into experimental cells such as an oedometer cell. Consolidation tests are carried out on six different sized glass beads. The test results reveal that the shape factor, m, used in Archie’s law, is about 1.19 for glass beads. One-dimensional liquefaction tests show that the porosity obtained by the 4ERP is similar to the porosity determined by volume fraction. The porosity profile obtained by the penetration of the 4ERP into the large-scale calibration chamber in the clay-sand mixture is similar to the volume based porosity. Furthermore, the porosity profile estimated by the resistivity is almost the same as the volume based porosity in glass beads. This study demonstrates that the 4ERP may effectively estimate the porosity of saturated soils.

Shear Modulus and Damping Ratio of Unsaturated Kaolin Measured by New Suction-Controlled Cyclic Triaxial Device

Abstract The cyclic triaxial test is the most widely used way to measure the cyclic stress–strain properties of saturated soils because of its availability in most geotechnical laboratories. Further, it can be viewed as a suitable tool with which to analyze the cyclic behavior of unsaturated soils in a wide strain range. In this study, a new stress path suction-controlled cyclic triaxial device is presented. It is fitted for suction-controlled testing by the axis-translation technique. Pore-air and pore-water pressures are applied at the top and bottom of the specimen by using two electro-pneumatic regulators. The capability of the new apparatus is demonstrated in this paper with the results of some suction-controlled cyclic triaxial tests. The tests are carried out on compacted specimens of lean clay that are prepared in the same initial condition and tested following different stress paths. The stress paths include suction equalization, constant suction ramped isotropic compression, series of constant suction cyclic loading, and post-cyclic constant suction ramped isotropic compression stages. Volumetric behavior and evolution of the yield curves along suction equalization, constant suction ramped isotropic compression, and post-cyclic compression stages are discussed on the basis of the Barcelona Basic Model elasto-plastic framework. The stiffness and damping ratio of the specimens are subsequently presented, highlighting the dependency of the Young’s modulus (E), shear modulus (G), and damping ratio (D) on the shear strain amplitude, number of cycles, and suction. The results show that E and G increase, whereas D decreases significantly by increasing suction at similar strain levels and number of cycles.

Shear Strength and Shear-Induced Volume Change Behavior of Unsaturated Soils from a Triaxial Test Program

A series of unsaturated soil triaxial tests were performed on four soils including sand, silt, and a low plasticity clay. Attempts were made to correlate unsaturated soil properties from these tests and data from the literature with soil-water characteristics curve (SWCC), soil gradation, and saturated soil properties. The feasibility of estimating unsaturated soil property functions from saturated soil properties, SWCCs and gradation data, is demonstrated. A hyperbolic model for estimation of the unsaturated soil parameter, ϕb, versus matric suction is presented. Shear induced volume change behavior was also studied, and results are included in this paper. Although not correlated with soil index properties, these shear-induced volume change data are important to complete stress-deformation analyses, and represent a significant addition to the existing data base of unsaturated soil properties.

Use of the grain-size distribution for estimation of the soil-water characteristic curve

The implementation of unsaturated soil mechanics into engineering practice is dependent, to a large extent, upon an ability to estimate unsaturated soil property functions. The soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC), along with the saturated soil properties, has proven to provide a satisfactory basis for estimating the permeability function and shear strength functions for an unsaturated soil. The volume change functions have not been totally defined nor applied in geotechnical engineering. The objective of this paper is to present a procedure for estimating the SWCC from information on the grain-size distribution and the volume–mass properties of a soil. SWCCs represent a continuous water content versus soil suction relationship. The proposed method provides an approximate means of estimating the desorption curve corresponding to a soil initially slurried near the liquid limit. The effects of stress history, fabric, confining pressure, and hysteresis are not addressed. A database of published data is used to verify the proposed procedure. The database contains independent measurements of the grain-size distribution and the SWCC. The level of fit between the estimated and measured SWCCs is analyzed statistically. The proposed procedure is compared to previously proposed methods for predicting the SWCC from the grain-size distribution. The results show that the proposed procedure is somewhat superior to previous methods.Key words: soil-water characteristic curve, grain-size distribution, volume-mass properties, pedo-transfer function, unsaturated soil property functions.

The influence of soil structure and stress history on the soil–water characteristics of a compacted till

The soil–water characteristic defines the relationship between the soil suction and gravimetric water content, w, or the volumetric water content, θ, or the degree of saturation, S. Theoretical and empirical relationships are available to model the unsaturated soil properties such as the coefficient of permeability and shear strength using the soil–water characteristic and the conventional saturated soil properties. These procedures are attractive to engineering practitioners because rigorous laboratory tests on unsaturated soil are difficult and time-consuming and, therefore, costly. Various investigators generally have used the soil–water characteristic over a limited suction range (usually 0 to about 1500 kPa) to model the unsaturated soil behaviour. Soils, however, change from a saturated to a dry condition over a range of suctions from 0 to 1000 000 kPa. A rationale for extending the soil–water characteristic up to 1000 000 kPa is provided in this paper, and a method for estimating the residual state of saturation is presented. Soil–water characteristics were developed for the entire range of suctions from 0 to 1000 000 kPa on statically compacted clayey till specimens prepared at three different initial water contents. The influence of initial water content, soil structure and stress history, as it relates to the soil–water characteristic, has been studied and is reported in this paper. The initial water contents selected for this study represent the dry of optimum, optimum and wet of optimum conditions with corresponding densities determined from the standard AASHTO test. The results indicate that initial moulding water content has considerable influence on the resulting structure (and aggregation), which in turn influences the soil–water characteristics. In the low suction range (i.e. 0–1500 kPa), macrostructure governs the soil–water characteristics for specimens compacted with dry of optimum initial water contents and they exhibit a steeper slope. However, for the specimens compacted at wet of optimum, microstructure governs the soil–water characteristic behaviour. The soil–water characteristic of the specimens compacted at dry of optimum are influenced by the stress history; however, stress history appears to have no significant influence on the soil–water characteristics of the specimens compacted with wet of optimum conditions. The soil–water characteristic behaviour of specimens compacted with optimum initial water contents lies in between those of specimens compacted with water contents that are dry and wet of optimum. It appears that soil–water characteristics are not significantly influenced either by the soil structure (aggregation) or the stress history for the high suction ranges (i.e. 20 000–1 000 000 kPa).

P55 Designing a registration system for the clinical research database system

Excessive rainwater infiltration can be an important causal agent of both slope and whole tree uprooting failures. Early warnings or stabilization measures on high-risk slopes or trees are critically important. To identify the high-risk areas, it is necessary to conduct seepage, slope and tree stability analyses over a large region. Given the spatial variability of soil properties, a soil database is therefore required before performing distributed or Geographical Information System (GIS) -based water balance and stability analyses. Considering that the unsaturated soil properties could be very different from saturated soil properties, in this study, a soil database containing both saturated and unsaturated hydraulic and mechanical soil properties was developed for the first time. Machine learning methods were used to predict the unknown soil properties. Based on the predicted soil properties, spatial distributions of different saturated and unsaturated soil properties were generated using the ordinary kriging method. Then the soil database was developed with Singapore island being divided into 97 zones, with each zone having similar soil properties. In this study, the importance of different input variables in soil properties prediction was also investigated. In addition to soil plasticity (i.e., Liquid Limit (LL), Plastic Limit (PL) and Plasticity Index (PI)) and grain size distribution (i.e., gravel, sand, and fines fractions), location (i.e., longitude and latitude) was found to be of high importance as well and are recommended to be used as input variables to predict soil properties, especially when data volume is relatively limited. For those soil properties that cover a large range of values, model performance is better when logarithm values were used as the outputs. Moreover, given the possible correlation between some output parameters, the prediction of the Soil-water Characteristic Curve (SWCC) from a multi-output model is recommended after comparing its performance with a single output model. Furthermore, the performance of two commonly used machine learning methods (i.e., random forest regression and artificial neural network) in soil properties prediction were compared and the prediction error resulting from the random forest regression method was generally smaller. The developed database includes the mean values of saturated permeability, saturated and unsaturated shear strength parameters, and SWCC in each zone. The database can be applied in regional GIS-based water balance and slope stability analyses to account for the spatial heterogeneity instead of assuming constant soil properties.