Abstract
This technical paper focuses on evaluating the shear strength of unsaturated sand at drying, wetting and alternate drying–wetting cycles, as well as the correlation between the strength and the water retention curve (WRC) at different hydraulic phases. Results of stress–strain curves and WRCs were obtained from conducting numerous tests using suction-controlled triaxial test. Although the maximum shear strength was obtained from the specimens under drying conditions, the difference between the drying and wetting shear strength was relatively small for the tested soil. Based on analysis of the test results, a multi-surfaces envelope model was proposed to fit the experimental shear strength data under drying conditions and to predict the shear strength under wetting conditions (or any subsequent drying–wetting cycle) based on the drying fitting parameters. The fitting and prediction performance of the proposed equations were checked using experimental data from previous studies, and very good agreement was reported. Moreover, the WRC was found to be capable of not only estimating unsaturated soil property functions but also anticipating the soil shear strength behaviour under different hydraulic phases.
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Data availability
All data and models generated or used during the study appear in the submitted manuscript.
References
Allam MM, Sridharan A (1981) Effect of wetting and drying on shear strength. J Soil Mech Found Div 107(4):421–438
Asadi A, Ashaari Y, Noor MJM, Saffari P (2018) Shear strength of unsaturated malaysian granitic residual soil. J Test Eval 47(1):640–653. https://doi.org/10.1520/JTE20170305
Azizi A, Jommi C, Musso G (2017) A water retention model accounting for the hysteresis induced by hydraulic and mechanical wetting-drying cycles. Comput Geotech 87:86–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2017.02.003
Cardoso R, Fernandes V, Ferreira TM, Teixeira PF (2012) Settlement prediction of high speed railway embankments considering the accumulation of wetting and drying cycles. In: Proceedings of 2nd European Conference on Unsaturated Soils, Springer, Berlin, 291–298
Chen R, Ng CWW (2013) Impact of wetting–drying cycles on hydro-mechanical behavior of an unsaturated compacted clay. Appl Clay Sci 86:38–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clay.2013.09.018
Chiu C, Ni X, Zhang L (2014) Effect of hydraulic hysteresis on shear strength of unsaturated clay and its prediction using a water retention surface. Eng Geol 173:66–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2014.02.008
Escario V, Juca J (1989) Shear strength and deformation of partly saturated soils. In: Proceedings of 12th international conference on soil mechanics and foundation engineering, Vol. 2, Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 43–46
Estabragh A, Moghadas M, Moradi M, Javadi A (2017) Consolidation behavior of an unsaturated silty soil during drying and wetting. Soils Found 57(2):277–287. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sandf.2017.03.005
Fredlund DG (2006) Unsaturated soil mechanics in engineering practice. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 132(3):286–321. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(2006)132:3(286)
Fredlund DG, Rahardjo H (1993) Soil mechanics for unsaturated soils. Wiley, New York, U.S.
Fredlund DG, Xing A (1994) Equations for the soil-water characteristic curve. Can Geotech J 31(4):521–532. https://doi.org/10.1139/t94-061
Fredlund DG, Xing A, Fredlund MD, Barbour S (1996) The relationship of the unsaturated soil shear to the soil-water characteristic curve. Can Geotech J 33(3):440–448. https://doi.org/10.1139/t96-065
Fredlund DG, Rahardjo H, Fredlund MD (2012) Unsaturated soil mechanics in engineering practice. Wiley, New Jersey, U.S.
Fukushima S, Tatsuoka F (1984) Strength and deformation characteristics of saturated sand at extremely low pressures. Soils Found 24(4):30–48. https://doi.org/10.3208/sandf1972.24.4_30
Gallage C, Uchimura T (2016) Direct shear testing on unsaturated silty soils to investigate the effects of drying and wetting on shear strength parameters at low suction. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001416
Gao Y, Sun DA, Zhu Z, Xu Y (2019) Hydromechanical behavior of unsaturated soil with different initial densities over a wide suction range. Acta Geotech 14(2):417–428
Gao Y, Sun DA, Zhou A, Li J (2020) Predicting shear strength of unsaturated soils over wide suction range. Int J Geomech 20(2):04019175
Gebrenegus T, Ghezzehei TA (2011) An index for degree of hysteresis in water retention. Soil Sci Soc Am J 75(6):2122–2127
Goh SG (2012) Hysteresis effects on mechanical behaviour of unsaturated soils. Dissertation, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Goh SG, Rahardjo H, Choon LE (2009) Shear strength equations for unsaturated soil under drying and wetting. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 136(4):594–606. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000261
Goh SG, Rahardjo H, Leong EC (2014) Shear strength of unsaturated soils under multiple drying-wetting cycles. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001032
Han K, Rahardjo H, Broms B (1995) Effect of hysteresis on the shear strength of a residual soil. In: Proceedings of 1st international conference on unsaturated soil, Vol. 2, Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 499–504
Hatami K, Esmaili D, Chan EC, Miller GA (2016) Moisture reduction factors for shear strength of unsaturated reinforced embankments. Int J Geomech 16(6):D4016001. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0000624
Hong WT, Jung YS, Kang S, Lee JS (2016) Estimation of soil-water characteristic curves in multiple-cycles using membrane and TDR system. Materials. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma9121019
Infante Sedano J, Vanapalli SK (2010) The relationship between the critical state shear strength of unsaturated soils and the soil-water characteristic curve. In: Alonso E, Gens A (eds). Proceedings of the fifth international conference on unsaturated soils, Taylor & Francis, 253–258
Khan MS, Ivoke J, Nobahar M, Kibria G (2019) Effect of wet-dry cycle on the void ratio of expansive Yazoo clay. In: Eighth international conference on case histories in geotechnical engineering, ASCE, 580–589
Khosravi A, Shahbazan P, Pak A (2018) Impact of hydraulic hysteresis on the small strain shear modulus of unsaturated sand. Soils Found 58(2):344–354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sandf.2018.02.018
Kong L, Sayem HM, Tian H (2017) Influence of drying–wetting cycles on soil-water characteristic curve of undisturbed granite residual soils and microstructure mechanism by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spin-spin relaxation time (T 2) relaxometry. Can Geotech J 55(2):208–216. https://doi.org/10.1139/cgj-2016-0614
Konyai S, Sriboonlue V, Trelo-Ges V (2009) The effect of air entry values on hysteresis of water retention curve in saline soil. Am J Environ Sci 5(3):341–345
Lade PV (2010) The mechanics of surficial failure in soil slopes. Eng Geol 114(1–2):57–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2010.04.003
Lee I-M, Sung S-G, Cho G-C (2005) Effect of stress state on the unsaturated shear strength of a weathered granite. Can Geotech J 42(2):624–631. https://doi.org/10.1139/t04-091
Leong EC, Rahardjo H (1997) Review of soil-water characteristic curve equations. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 123(12):1106–1117. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(1997)123:12(1106)
Li P, Vanapalli S, Li T (2016) Review of collapse triggering mechanism of collapsible soils due to wetting. J Rock Mechan Geotech Eng 8(2):256–274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrmge.2015.12.002
Likos WJ, Lu N (2004) Hysteresis of capillary stress in unsaturated granular soil. J Eng Mech 130(6):646–655. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9399(2004)130:6(646)
Likos WJ, Wayllace A, Godt J, Lu N (2010) Modified direct shear apparatus for unsaturated sands at low suction and stress. Geotech Test J 33(4):286–298. https://doi.org/10.1520/GTJ102927
Liu J, Chen P, Li W (2018) Assessing hydraulic hysteresis models to characterize unsaturated flow behavior under drying and wetting conditions. Int J Geomech 18(7):04018080. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0001205
Lu N, Likos WJ (2006) Suction stress characteristic curve for unsaturated soil. J Geotechn Geoenviron Eng 132(2):131–142. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(2006)132:2(131)
Lu N, Wu B (2006) Unsaturated shear strength behavior of a fine sand. Second Japan-U.S. workshop on testing, modeling, and simulation in geomechanics, ASCE, 488–499
Miller GA, Khoury CN, Muraleetharan KK, Liu C, Kibbey TC (2008) Effects of soil skeleton deformations on hysteretic soil water characteristic curves: experiments and simulations. Water Resour Res. https://doi.org/10.1029/2007WR006492
Ng CW, Pang Y (2000) Influence of stress state on soil-water characteristics and slope stability. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 126(2):157–166. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(2000)126:2(157)
Ng CW, Pang Y (2000) Experimental investigations of the soil-water characteristics of a volcanic soil. Can Geotech J 37(6):1252–1264. https://doi.org/10.1139/t00-056
Noor MM, Anderson W (2006) A comprehensive shear strength model for saturated and unsaturated soils. In: Proceedings of 4th international conference of unsaturated soil, unsaturated soils 2006, ASCE, 1992–2003
Öberg A, Sällfors G (1997) Determination of shear strength parameters of unsaturated silts and sands based on the water retention curve. Geotech Test J 20(1):40–48. https://doi.org/10.1520/GTJ11419J
Pasculli A, Sciarra N, Esposito L, Esposito AW (2017) Effects of wetting and drying cycles on mechanical properties of pyroclastic soils. CATENA 156:113–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2017.04.004
Pham H, Fredlund D, Barbour S (2003) A practical hysteresis model for the soil-water characteristic curve for soils with negligible volume change. Géotechnique 53(2):293–298. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.2003.53.2.293
Pham HQ, Fredlund DG, Barbour SL (2005) A study of hysteresis models for soil-water characteristic curves. Can Geotech J 42(6):1548–1568. https://doi.org/10.1139/t05-071
Pires L, Cooper M, Cássaro F, Reichardt K, Bacchi O, Dias N (2008) Micromorphological analysis to characterize structure modifications of soil samples submitted to wetting and drying cycles. CATENA 72(2):297–304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2007.06.003
Rahardjo H, Heng OB, Choon LE (2004) Shear strength of a compacted residual soil from consolidated drained and constant water content triaxial tests. Can Geotech J 41(3):421–436. https://doi.org/10.1139/t03-093
Roy S, Rajesh S (2017) Influence of confining pressure on air permeability of unsaturated soil barrier. In: Second Pan-American Conference on Unsaturated Soils, ASCE, 114–123
Sartori G, Ferrari G, Pagliai M (1985) Changes in soil porosity and surface shrinkage in a remolded, saline clay soil treated with compost. Soil Sci 139(6):523
Schnellmann R, Rahardjo H, Schneider HR (2013) Unsaturated shear strength of a silty sand. Eng Geol 162:88–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2013.05.011
Song Y-S, Hwang W-K, Jung S-J, Kim T-H (2012) A comparative study of suction stress between sand and silt under unsaturated conditions. Eng Geol 124:90–97
Sorbino G, Nicotera MV (2013) Unsaturated soil mechanics in rainfall-induced flow landslides. Eng Geol 165:105–132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2011.10.006
Sun DA, Zhang J, Gao Y, Sheng D (2016) Influence of suction history on hydraulic and stress-strain behavior of unsaturated soils. Int J Geomech 16(6)
Tang C-S, Wang D-Y, Shi B, Li J (2016) Effect of wetting–drying cycles on profile mechanical behavior of soils with different initial conditions. CATENA 139:105–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2015.12.015
Tavakoli DM, Habibagahi G, Nikooee E (2014) Effect of confining stress on soil water retention curve and its impact on the shear strength of unsaturated soils. Vadose Zone J. https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2013.05.0094
Thu TM, Rahardjo H, Leong E-C (2006) Effects of hysteresis on shear strength envelopes from constant water content and consolidated drained triaxial tests. In: Proceedings of 4th international conference of unsaturated soil, unsaturated soils 2006, ASCE, 1212–1222
Thu TM, Rahardjo H, Leong E-C (2007) Soil-water characteristic curve and consolidation behavior for a compacted silt. Can Geotech J 44(3):266–275. https://doi.org/10.1139/t06-114
Toll D, Ong B (2003) Critical-state parameters for an unsaturated residual sandy clay. Géotechnique 53(1):93–103. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.2003.53.1.93
Vanapalli SK (2009) Shear strength of unsaturated soils and its applications in geotechnical engineering practice. In: Proceedings of 4th Asia-Pacific conference on unsaturated soils, New Castle, Australia, pp 579–598
Vanapalli S, Fredlund D, Pufahl D, Clifton A (1996) Model for the prediction of shear strength with respect to soil suction. Can Geotech J 33(3):379–392. https://doi.org/10.1139/t96-060
Wheeler S, Sharma R, Buisson M (2003) Coupling of hydraulic hysteresis and stress–strain behaviour in unsaturated soils. Géotechnique 53(1):41–54. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.2003.53.1.41
Yang H, Rahardjo H, Leong E-C, Fredlund DG (2004) Factors affecting drying and wetting soil-water characteristic curves of sandy soils. Can Geotech J 41(5):908–920. https://doi.org/10.1139/t04-042
Zemenu G, Martine A, Roger C (2009) Analysis of the behaviour of a natural expansive soil under cyclic drying and wetting. Bull Eng Geol Env 68(3):421–436
Zhai Q, Rahardjo H, Satyanaga A (2018) A pore-size distribution function based method for estimation of hydraulic properties of sandy soils. Eng Geol 246:288–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2018.09.031
Zhang J, Jiang T, Wang X, Liu C, Huang Z (2018) Influences of drying and wetting cycles and compaction degree on strength of Yudong silt for subgrade and its prediction. Adv Civ Eng 2018:10. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/1364186
Zhang J, Niu G, Li X, Sun DA (2020) Hydro-mechanical behavior of expansive soils with different dry densities over a wide suction range. Acta Geotech 15(1):265–278
Funding
Not applicable.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Albadri, W.M., Noor, M.J.M. & Alhani, I.J. The relationship between the shear strength and water retention curve of unsaturated sand at different hydraulic phases. Acta Geotech. 16, 2821–2835 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-021-01189-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-021-01189-7