Abstract
Wide-grading gravelly soils are often encountered in debris flow source areas. To perform stability analyses under rainfall conditions, the soil–water characteristic curves (SWCC) are significant. However, the studies for SWCC of wide-grading gravelly soils are rare. In order to investigate the effects of initial dry density and grain size distribution on the SWCCs of wide-grading gravelly, a large-scale osmotic column, allowing the measurement of both volumetric water content and matric suction at various levels, was fabricated for a series of osmotic column tests. The test data were best-fitted to Van Genuchten equation using a least-squares algorithm and found that both the initial dry density and grain size distribution had a greater effect on the SWCCs. An increase in the initial dry density resulted in an increase in water retention capacity. The air entry value and residual volumetric water content increased linearly with increases in the initial dry density, whereas the maximum slope of SWCC decreased linearly with increases in the initial dry density. The air entry value and residual volumetric water content increased linearly with increases in the fine content (particle diameter <0.075), whereas the maximum slope increases linearly with increases in the effective size, d 10.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arya LM, Paris JF (1981) A physic-empirical model to predict soil moisture characteristics from particle-size distribution and bulk density data. Soil Sci Soc Am J 45:1023–1030
Arya LM, Leij FJ, Shouse PJ, van Genuchten MT (1999a) Relationship between the hydraulic conductivity function and the paticle-size distribution. Soil Sci Soc Am J 63:1063–1070
Arya LM, Leij FJ, van Genuchten MT, Shouse PJ (1999b) Scaling parameter to predict the soil water characteristics from particle-size distribution data. Soil Sci Soc Am J 63:510–519
Barbour SL (1998) The soil–water characteristic curve: a historical prospective. Can Geotech J 35:873–894
Baro PL, Sigurdso ER (2005) Time domain reflectometry laboratory calibration in travel time, bulk electrical conductivity, and effective frequency. Vadose Zone J 4:1020–1029
Birle E, Heyer D, Vogt N (2008) Influence of the initial water content and dry density on the soil–water retention curve and the shrinkage behavior of a compacted clay. Acta Geotech 3:191–200
Box JE, Taylor SA (1962) Influence of soil bulk density on matric potential. Soil Sci Soc Am J 26:119–122
Bruckler LB, Angulo JP, Ruy R (2002) Testing an infiltration method for estimating soil hydraulic properties in the laboratory. Soil Sci Soc Am J 66:384–395
Campbell GS, Gardner WH (1971) Psychometric measurement of soil water potential: temperature and bulk density effects. Soil Sci Soc Am J 35:8–12
Collins BD, Znidarcic D (2004) Stability analyses of rainfall induced landslides. J Geotech Geoenviron 130:362–372
Croney D, Coleman JD (1954) Soil structure in relation to soil suction (pF). Eur J Soil Sci 5:75–84
Cui YF, Zhou XJ, Guo CX (2017) Experimental study on the moving characteristics of fine grains in wide grading unconsolidated soil under heavy rainfall. J Mt Sci 14:417–431
Duong TV, Trinh VN, Cui YJ, Tang AM, Calon N (2013) Development of a large-scale infiltration column for studying the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated fouled ballast. Geotech Test J 36:1–10
Ekblad J, Isacsson U (2007) Time-domain Reflectometry measurements and soil–water characteristic curves of coarse granular materials used in road pavements. Can Geotech J 44:858–872
Fan G, Xing R, Zhang M (2012) Experimental study on permeability of the sandy gravel media with different gradation. J Taiyuan Uni Tech 43:373–383 (In Chinese, with English abstract)
Fredlund DG, Xing A (1994) Equation for the soil–water characteristic curve. Can Geotech J 31:521–532
Gallage C, Uchimura T (2010) Effects of dry density and grain size distribution on soil–water characteristic curves of sandy soils. Soils Found 50:161–172
Hu W, Xu Q, Wang GH, van Asch TWJ, Hicher PY (2015) Sensitivity of the initiation of debris flow to initial soil moisture. Landslides 12:1139–1145
Indrawan IGB, Rahardjo H, Leong EC (2006) Effects of coarse-grained materials on properties of residual soil. Eng Geol 82:154–164
Iverson RM (1997) The physics of debris flows. Rev Geophys 35:245–296
Iverson RM (2000) Landslide triggering by rain infiltration. Water Resour Res 36:1897–1910
Krahn J, Fredlund DG (1972) On total, matric and osmotic suction. Soil Sci 114:339–348
Leong EC, Rahardjo H (1997) Review of soil–water characteristic curve equation. J Geotech Geoenviron ASCE 123:1106–1117
Li AG, Tham LG, Yue ZQ, Lee CF, Law KT (2005) Comparison of field and laboratory soil–water characteristic curves. J Geotech Geoenviron ASCE 131:1176–1179
Li JY, Yang Q, Li PY, Yang QL (2009) Experimental research on soil–water characteristic curve of remolded residual soils. Electron J Geotech 14:1–12
Qi GQ, Huang RQ (2003) Study on genetic and mechanical analysis of debris flow based on unsaturated soils mechanics. Chin J Geol Hazard Control 14:12–15 (In Chinese, with Engish abstract)
Rahardjo H, Alfrendo S, D’Amore GAR, Leong EC (2012) Soil–water characteristic curves of gap-graded soils. Eng Geol 125:102–107
Rahimi A, Rahardjo H, Leong EC (2010) Effect of hydraulic properties of soil on rainfall-induced slope failure. Eng Geol 114:135–143
Song K, Yan E, Zhang GD, Lu SQ, Yi QL (2015) Effect of hydraulic properties of soil and fluctuation velocity of reservoir water on landslide stability. Environ Earth Sci 74:5319–5329
Sun DA, Sheng DC, Xu YF (2007) Collapse behavior of unsaturated compacted soil with different initial density. Can Geotech J 44:673–686
Topp GC, Davis JL, Annan AP (1980) Electromagnetic determination of soil water content: measurements in coaxial transmission lines. Water Resour Res 16:574–582
Van Genuchten MT (1980) A closed form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 44:892–898
Vanapalli SK, Fredlund DG, Pufahl DE, Cliffton AW (1996) Model for the prediction of shear strength with respect to soil suction. Can Geotech J 33:379–392
Vanapalli SK, Fredlund DG, Pufahl DE (1999) The influence of soil structure and stress history on the soil–water characteristics of a compacted till. Geotechnique 49:143–159
Zhao Y, Cui Y, Zhou H, Feng X, Huang Z (2017) Effects of void ratio and grain size distribution on water retention properties of compacted infilled joint soils. Soils Found 57:50–59
Zhou AN, Sheng D, Carter JP (2012) Modelling the effect of initial density on soil–water characteristic curves. Geotechnique 62:669–680
Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported the Science and Technology Service Network Initiative of CAS (KFJ-STS-ZDTP-015); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41661144028); and the West Light Foundation of Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, X., Hu, K., Chen, J. et al. Laboratory Investigation of the Effect of Initial Dry Density and Grain Size Distribution on Soil–Water Characteristic Curves of Wide-Grading Gravelly Soil. Geotech Geol Eng 36, 885–896 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-017-0362-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-017-0362-1