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Abstract: Compacted and undisturbed expansive soils have widely been modeled as dual-porosity materials with two levels of pore systems:
micropores and macropores. The micropores accommodate the soil activity of swelling and shrinkage behavior. However, the macropores
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experience a volume change mainly resulting from the structural rearrangement. Due to the deformation of the macropores, a plastic volu-
metric strain takes place. However, after several wetting–drying cycles, an equilibrium state is reached. Beyond the equilibrium, the volume
change becomes elastic and mainly is led by the micropores. This study investigated the volume change characteristics of expansive soils from
the viewpoint of the soil shrinkage curve. The slope of the normal shrinkage curve at equilibrium was found to be parallel to the saturation
line. Based on these observations and laboratory test results, a conceptual framework for the interrelationship between the virgin line of the
soil-water characteristic curve and the reversible volume change of the micropores is presented. Experimental data demonstrated the appli-
cability of the presented framework to slurry and compacted soils. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0002020. © 2019 American Society
of Civil Engineers.
Introduction (Fredlund et al. 2012); and (4) the elastic stiffness parameter of
the change in suction in the Barcelona elastoplastic model
The volumetric strain of expansive soils due to the change of water (Alonso et al. 1990).
content has significant importance in geotechnical and geoenviron- The soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) has become an
mental engineering. The volume change can cause distress and important tool in predicting the soil property functions (Fredlund
damage to overlying structures (e.g., pavements), buried structures et al. 2012). Various relationships have been proposed between the
(e.g., pipelines), and lateral structures (e.g., retaining walls). Under- soil-water characteristic curve and soil properties such as shear
standing the volume change mechanism is important in modeling strength (Vanapalli et al. 1996), hydraulic conductivity (Fredlund
the soil behavior under hydraulic loading of wetting and drying et al. 1994), and effective stress (Lu et al. 2010). It has always been
cycles. Numerous research studies have been undertaken and spe- of interest to directly link the soil volume change to the soil-water
cialty conferences have been organized exclusively on this subject characteristic curve because both mainly depend on the soil min-
(Chen 2012). The volume change potential has widely been pre- eralogy such that the volume change and SWCC share the same soil
dicted based on the principles of unsaturated soil mechanics and features. For example, the shape of the SWCC can be derived from
soil suction. This is mainly due to the direct connection between the soil grain-size distribution and Atterberg limits (Lytton 1994;
the physicochemical interactions and suction in the soil pores. Soil Zapata et al. 2000; Lytton et al. 2005). McKeen (1992) classified
suction is a measure of the soil’s affinity for water. It consists of two the soil volume change potential based on the slope of the SWCC.
major components, namely matric suction and osmotic suction. Most SWCC models, including those by van Genuchten (1980)
Matric suction arises from the capillary action and surface energy and Fredlund and Xing (1994), neglect the effect of the volume
of the soil particles, whereas osmotic suction results from the ionic change. However, Fredlund and Houston (2013), Fredlund and
concentration of the pore water (Bulut and Leong 2008). Moreover, Zhang (2013), Salager et al. (2013), Wijaya et al. (2015), and Bani
suction is one of the stress state variables governing the unsaturated Hashem and Houston (2015) proposed that the soil shrinkage sub-
soil behavior (Fredlund and Morgenstern 1977). A single coeffi- stantially delays the air entry stage by keeping the degree of sat-
cient is often adopted to define the relationship between volume uration close to unity for wide ranges of water contents. Therefore,
change and suction, which can directly be derived from the slope the volume change affects the shape of the soil-water characteristic
of the relationship between suction and void ratio, specific volume, curve in terms of the degree of saturation (SWCC-S).
or volumetric strain. However, different methods are used to esti- Experimental results of mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) of
mate this coefficient, including: (1) the suction compression index soils compacted at the dry side of optimum from several studies
(Lytton 1977, 1994); (2) the suction index (Snethen and Huang (e.g., Romero et al. 1999; Thom et al. 2007; Tarantino and De Col
1992); (3) the modulus of elasticity of the change in suction 2008; Koliji et al. 2010; Pedrotti and Tarantino 2014; Seiphoori
et al. 2014) indicated a dual-porosity structure for these soils.
1
Ph.D. Student, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Dual-porosity soils demonstrate two levels of pore systems: a mi-
Oklahoma State Univ., Stillwater, OK 74078. Email: abedalm@okstate.edu crostructure (micropores) and a macrostructure (macropores).
2
Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Oklahoma Compacted soils on the dry side of optimum up to the optimum
State Univ., Stillwater, OK 74078 (corresponding author). Email: rifat water content can exhibit a dual-porosity structure with a bimodal
.bulut@okstate.edu
pore-size distribution (Tarantino and De Col 2008; Della Vecchia
Note. This manuscript was submitted on October 23, 2017; approved on
September 10, 2018; published online on January 22, 2019. Discussion et al. 2015). However, soils that can be modeled by a single poros-
period open until June 22, 2019; separate discussions must be submitted ity, i.e., single-porosity soils, have unimodal pore-size distribu-
for individual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of Geotechnical tions, such as soils compacted on the wet side of the optimum water
and Geoenvironmental Engineering, © ASCE, ISSN 1090-0241. content (Tarantino and De Col 2008; Della Vecchia et al. 2015) and
experience during these cycles. This plastic deformation during Dual-porosity soils are formed when the active clay particles
wetting–drying cycles is attributed to the irreversible volume interact, and are accumulated and hydrated, with water to form peds
change that the soils experience (Seiphoori et al. 2014). The irre- (Fityus and Buzzi 2009), pods (Baker and Frydman 2009), or ag-
versible volume change has widely been referenced to the plastic gregates (Chertkov 2008). These aggregates produce voids between
deformation of macropore size during wetting and drying cycles them. The pores within the peds, pods, and aggregates are consid-
(e.g., Alonso et al. 1999; Lloret Morancho et al. 2003; Sánchez ered as being micro in porosity (micropores or intra-aggregate
et al. 2005). That led Mašín (2013) and Della Vecchia et al. pores), whereas the pores between the peds, pods, and aggregates
(2015) to distinguish between the degree of saturation for the are considered as being macro in porosity (macropores or interag-
whole soil and the degree of saturation of macropores. However, gregate pores). The variation of the pore sizes is due to various
Gallipoli (2012) showed that the effect of the irreversible volume factors, including soil compaction, the aging effect, soil wetting–
change during wetting and drying cycles is limited to the initial drying processes (Li and Zhang 2009; Li et al. 2014), and the
scanning portion of the drying and wetting SWCC. Gallipoli chemical composition of the pore fluid (Musso et al. 2013). Unsatu-
(2012) stressed that the soil-water characteristic curve in terms rated in situ soils and compacted soils are common examples of
of the gravimetric water content (SWCC-w) and the void ratio– dual-porosity soils (Li et al. 2014). The pore-size distribution
suction curve (e- log s curve) have a unique slope referred to as the curves of these soils may have two or more peaks (Sheng et al.
virgin line. Gallipoli (2012) also showed that the virgin lines of 2013; Li et al. 2014). However, this is different for slurry soils.
the SWCC-w and e- log s curves are governed by the properties Most of the pores in slurry soils are considered to be micropores
of the micropores. The reversible (i.e., elastic) volume change (Sheng et al. 2013; Li et al. 2014).
occurs mostly due to the swelling and shrinkage of the micropores In modeling the volume change of expansive soils, the peds,
(e.g., Gens and Alonso 1992). The present paper provides more pods, and aggregates have been deemed to be saturated (Alonso
details about the latter concept. et al. 1999; Lloret Morancho et al. 2003; Baker and Frydman
In spite of these notable studies on the volume change and its 2009; Fityus and Buzzi 2009; Nowamooz and Masrouri 2010;
relationship with soil suction, there is still a need for more insight Thyagaraj et al. 2016), and mainly consist of clay platelets and ad-
into the relationship between the volume change of micropores, in sorbed water (Baker and Frydman 2009). However, the macropores
which reversible shrinkage and swelling occur, and the SWCC. possibly contain air and water (Frydman and Baker 2009). The con-
This paper presents a conceptual framework for the interrelation- clusion that the micropores are fully saturated and the macropores
ship between the virgin line of the SWCC and the reversible volume possibly contain water and air is supported by experimental results
change of the micropores. The void ratio–water content curve from Tarantino and De Col (2008) for soils compacted with the
(e, w-plane) for single-porosity media (e.g., slurry soil) and for same compaction effort at different water contents observed by
double-porosity media (e.g., compacted soil) is utilized to build this mercury intrusion porosimetry. The micropores accommodate
framework. More emphasis is given to the soil shrinkage curve the major physicochemical interactions of the adsorbed water–soil
(SSC) in interpreting the properties of the pore regime and the vol- particles phase. The macropores are compressible when subjected
ume change tendency. Experimental data for slurry and compacted to mechanical actions (e.g., mechanical loading and compaction).
soils are also presented to demonstrate the applicability of the pre- In contrast, the micropores do not respond to mechanical loading or
sented framework to slurry and compacted soils. compaction (Gallipoli 2012; Li et al. 2014). The drying and wetting
processes result in shrinkage and swelling in the micropores, re-
spectively. Furthermore, for soils subjected to suction cycles and
Pore System of Expansive Soils constant mechanical stress in a confined ring (e.g., small soil spec-
imens in the oedometer test), the volume change of the micropores
In the soil science community, unsaturated soils have widely been leads to either accumulated shrinkage or accumulated swelling in
considered as double-porosity structures (van Genuchten and the macropores, depending on the initial density and water content.
Wierenga 1976; Rao et al. 1980; Gerke and van Genuchten 1996; If the initial state is dense, the soil will experience accumulated
Larsson and Jarvis 1999; Larsbo et al. 2005; Gerke 2006). The last swelling, and if the initial state is loose, the soil will experience
2–3 decades have witnessed growing interest from geotechnical accumulated shrinkage (Nowamooz and Masrouri 2010). However,
researchers in modeling expansive in situ soils and compacted soils equilibrium is reached after several cycles, beyond which the volu-
as a dual-porosity structure (Gens and Alonso 1992; Delage and metric strain is fully reversible (Popescu 1980; Osipov et al. 1987;
Graham 1996; Alonso et al. 1999; Lloret Morancho et al. 2003; Subba Rao and Satyadas 1987; Dif and Bluemel 1991; Day 1994;
Sánchez et al. 2005; Tarantino and De Col 2008; Nowamooz Al-Homoud et al. 1995; Basma et al. 1996; Tripathy et al. 2002;
and Masrouri 2010; Mašín 2013; Seiphoori et al. 2014; Wang Alonso et al. 2005; Rao and Revanasiddappa 2006; Guney et al.
and Wei 2014; Della Vecchia et al. 2015; Dieudonné et al. 2017). 2007; Nowamooz and Masrouri 2008; Tripathy and Rao 2009;
Void ratio
1
SL AEV
0.5
1.2
Degree of Saturation
et al. 2015; Rosenbalm and Zapata 2016). This means that the 0.8
macropores become stable and the volumetric strain is thoroughly
Air entry stage
led by the micropores. In this case, the soil deformation is fully 0.6
elastic.
0.4
Aggregate
S = 10% S = 30% S = 70% S = 100%
Fig. 4. Saturating and swelling of soil aggregate (micropores) before water starts filling the interaggregate pores (macropores). (Reprinted with
permission from Alonso et al. 2013, © ICE Publishing.)
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from the interaggregate pores (macropores) (Chertkov 2008; Li (Fig. 7): the soil maintains a constant initial degree of saturation
et al. 2014). The structural shrinkage ceases when all the water (moving from Point A to Point B in Fig. 7), and the soil shrinkage
in the macropores is removed. Soils that are compacted dry of op- curve is parallel to the saturation line (moving from Point A to
timum have more of a dual-porosity structure (or more macro- Point C in Fig. 7). A close observation of the first situation reveals
pores), and therefore more structural shrinkage, than those that that this situation is a special case which occurs when the initial
are compacted wet of optimum (Alonso et al. 2013; Sheng et al. state of soil is loose and the macropores close in such a way as
2013). During shrinkage, although the overall degree of saturation to keep the saturation ratio constant. This situation takes place if
of the soil mass decreases due to the loss of water from macropores equilibrium has not been reached, similar to the case in Fig. 5(a).
during the structural shrinkage, the micropores remain saturated In contrast, the second situation occurs if equilibrium is met after
until the end of normal shrinkage (Azam et al. 2013). In contrast, several wetting–drying cycles [Fig. 5(c)].
during swelling when a dry dual-porosity expansive soil is wetted, Although the preceding discussion concentrated more on the
due to the high suction of the micropores, the micropores swell volume change due to the change of water content or suction, it
and saturate first and then the excess water fills the macropores is still possible to incorporate the effect of mechanical stress on
(Fig. 4) (Alonso et al. 2013). soil volume change. Results by Tripathy et al. (2002) demonstrated
Braudeau et al. (2004) highlighted that two kinds of water pools that the increase of mechanical load shifts the volume change curve
exist in soil pores: the nonswelling water pool found in the macro- closer to the saturation line (Fig. 8). This finding by Tripathy et al.
pores, and the swelling water pool found in the micropores. The (2002) can also be interpreted from the point of view the dual-
loss of water from micropores (i.e., swelling pool) is accompanied porosity concept. This is because the mechanical stress decreases
by shrinkage, whereas the loss of water from macropores (i.e., non- the volume of the macropores but has little or no effect on the ag-
swelling pool) causes little or no shrinkage (Cornelis et al. 2006). gregates (i.e., micropores) (e.g., Gallipoli 2012). However, when
considering long-term loading effects, the mechanical stress can
The existence of macropores may contribute to the soil deformation
likely cause deformation in the micropores as well, in which the
resulting in accumulated swelling or shrinkage, as explained
reduction in volume of the micropores results from the dissipation
previously. In this case, the slope of the normal shrinkage curve
of water pressure.
is either greater than 1 [Fig. 5(a)], leading to accumulated shrinkage
or a decrease in the volume of the macropores, or less than 1
[Fig. 5(b)], leading to accumulated swelling or an increase in
the volume of the macropores. The increase and decrease in the Virgin Line of SWCC
volume of the macropores result from the structural rearrangement The initial density has been reported to affect the shape of the
of the active clay mineral aggregates during wetting–drying proc- SWCC (Zhou et al. 2012; Wijaya and Leong 2017; Jiang et al.
esses. However, as previously mentioned, after several wetting– 2017). The initial density is controlled by the compaction energy
drying cycles, expansive soil reaches an equilibrium stage in the and the compaction water content. However, as previously men-
macropores [Fig. 5(c)]. At equilibrium, the macropores become tioned, the compaction mainly affects the macropores and has a
stable and no further volume change takes place in the macropores. slight or no effect on the micropores. For different initial water
Experimental results by Sitharam et al. (1995), Tripathy et al. contents (or initial densities), the initial drying line of the SWCC
(2002), and Estabragh et al. (2015) showed that the slope of the merges to the virgin drying line (VDL) (Fig. 9) (Toll 1995;
normal shrinkage at equilibrium is essentially parallel to the satu- Gallipoli 2012; Al-Dakheeli 2016; Gallipoli and Bruno 2017;
ration line. This finding is rational because the volumetric strain at Wijaya and Leong 2017). In other words, the effect of the initial
equilibrium is fully controlled by the micropores. The removal of water content appears to be limited to the initial stage of the SWCC
the water from the micropores leads to a reduction in the aggregate and does not change the slope of the virgin SWCC.
volume or the soil volume, whereas the macropore volume stays The effect of the initial water content on the SWCC can be ex-
constant. plained using the hysteresis process. Before the soil starts drying, it
Furthermore, the experimental results by Tripathy et al. (2002) is wetted to the initial water content for the drying test. Therefore,
and Estabragh et al. (2015) stressed that the swelling and shrinkage the drying SWCC first reveals a scanning cycle from the wetting
of the soil on the void ratio versus water content curve at equilib- curve to the drying curve, which is the virgin drying line. The in-
rium follow the same path. In other words, the swelling curve fully tersection point on the VDL is referred to as the preshrinkage suc-
reverses to the shrinkage curve (Fig. 6). tion (Baumgartl and Köck 2004). The preshrinkage suction is the
For initially unsaturated soils, Fredlund et al. (2012) suggested point that separates the initial drying line from the virgin drying line
that the soil shrinkage curve exhibits two possible behaviors (Fig. 9). Due to the effect of the volume change, this intersection
1.6
Void ratio
1.2
Void ratio
Swelling and
shrinkage curve
0.8
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Moisture ratio, wGs
A
Void ratio
Fig. 5. Possible behavior of the soil shrinkage curve before and after Constant degree
the equilibrium state: (a) before equilibrium is reached when the initial of saturation, S
state is loose and the slope of the normal shrinkage curve is greater
than 1; (b) before equilibrium is reached when the initial state is dense
and the slope of the normal shrinkage curve is less than 1; and (c) after
equilibrium is reached after several wetting–drying cycles when the
slope of the normal shrinkage curve becomes almost parallel to the Gravimetric water content (%)
saturation line. S = degree of saturation.
Fig. 7. Possible soil shrinkage behavior for initially unsaturated soils.
(Reprinted from D. G. Fredlund, H. Rahardjo, and M. D. Fredlund,
“Nature and Phase Properties of Unsaturated Soil,” Unsaturated Soil
point (Fig. 9) is not the air entry value as referenced widely in the Mechanics in Engineering Practice, Copyright © 2012 John Wiley &
literature. More discussion is provided on this point in the remain- Sons, Inc., with permission from John Wiley and Sons.)
ing sections of the paper.
The soil suction mostly arises from the physicochemical inter-
actions of the water and soil particles in the micropores. Therefore, The mechanical stress or compaction does not alter the
the virgin line of the water content–suction curve is governed by the micropore-size distribution (Li et al. 2014). Experimental results
retention properties of micropores (Gallipoli 2012). Similar to the from the SWCC obtained for Regina clay preconsolidated to differ-
situation in the compaction process, the mechanical stress mainly ent pressures (Fig. 10) reported by Fredlund and Houston (2013)
affects the macropores and has a slight or no effect on the micro- revealed independency of the virgin drying line of SWCC from the
pores in terms of volume changes (Gallipoli 2012). applied mechanical stress.
2
Surcharge pressure = 6.25 kPa
Surcharge pressure = 50 kPa
Surcharge pressure = 100 kPa
1.5
Suction (log kPa)
1
Equilibrium 100
shrinkage Equilibrium swelling Pre-consolidation = 6.125 kPa
Pre-consolidation = 392 kPa
Gravimetric water content (%)
80
Pre-consolidation = 49 kPa
0.5
60
40
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 20
Moisture ratio, wGs
0
Fig. 8. Soil shrinkage curve at equilibrium for different applied me- 1.0E+00 1.0E+02 1.0E+04 1.0E+06
chanical stress (compacted soil collected from Northern Karnataka Suction (kPa)
State of India). [Republished with permission of Canadian Science
Publishing, from “Water Content – Void Ratio Swell – Shrink Paths Fig. 10. SWCC of different applied pressures for Regina soil merging
of Compacted Expansive Soils,” S. Tripathy, K. S. Subba Roa, and to the virgin drying line regenerated from the curve fitting parameters
D. G. Fredlund, Vol. 39 (4), © 2002, permission conveyed through of Fredlund and Xing’s (1994) model reported by Fredlund and
Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.] Houston (2013).
c ð1=cÞ
shrinkage curves led to theoretically building the relationship w
between the SWCC and the reversible volume change of micro- eðwÞ ¼ a þ 1 ð5Þ
bc
pores as presented in Eqs. 3 and 4. The applicability of this relation-
ship is demonstrated by utilizing experimental data of slurry and
compacted soils in the next subsections. Because the soil was in a slurry condition, the normal shrinkage
part of the SSC followed the saturation line for wide ranges of water
contents and void ratios.
Experimental Data Suction measurements of the desiccating soil specimen in the
Experimental data for initially saturated slurry soils and compacted free shrinkage tests were carried out using a WP4 (METER Group,
soils were used in this study (Table 1). Experimental data of slurry Pullman, Washington) chilled-mirror device for high suction ranges
soils consisted of suction and shrinkage measurements of reconsti- (i.e., greater than 500 kPa) and a UMS-T5 (METER Group, Pull-
tuted saturated soil. The experimental data of four slurry soils were man, Washington) tensiometer for low suction ranges (i.e., less than
used in this study. Two soils were used specifically for this study. 100 kPa). In the study, it was assumed that the osmotic suction
They were obtained from the Lake Hefner and Ardmore sites in component was negligible. The obtained results were fitted by
Oklahoma. The basic geotechnical properties of these two soils the Fredlund and Xing (1994) model to obtain the whole soil-water
were obtained following the relevant ASTM standards. The opti- characteristic curve in terms of the gravimetric water content
mum water content and maximum dry density were determined fol- (Fig. 12).
lowing the standard Proctor test in ASTM D698 (ASTM 2012) and Additionally, the soil-water characteristic curve in terms of the
the results are given in Table 1. The results of the other two soils degree of saturation was obtained by combining the SWCC-w and
were extracted from Fredlund and Houston (2013). The basic geo- the SSC. In this way, the SWCC-S takes into account the volume
technical properties of the latter two soils are also given in Table 1. change such that the AEV can be correctly located (Fredlund and
Experimental data of compacted soils consisted of soil shrink- Houston 2013; Wijaya et al. 2015; Bani Hashem and Houston
age curves at the equilibrium state. The results of the SSC at the 2015). The suction versus the void ratio curve (e- log s curve) is
equilibrium state were extracted from Tripathy et al. (2002) and derived from the suction obtained from the SWCC-w and the
Estabragh et al. (2015). The basic geotechnical properties of these corresponding void ratio obtained from the SSC. The SWCC-w,
soils are given in Table 1. SWCC-S, and the e- log s curve are illustrated in Fig. 13 and can
be interpreted under a unified framework.
From Fig. 13, the range from the preshrinkage suction to the air
Demonstrating Relationship between Reversible entry value falls on the virgin drying line of the SWCC-w and the
Deformation and Slope of SWCC Using Experimental virgin shrinkage line of the e- log s curve. This range is also within
Data of Slurry Soils
Experimental data for initially saturated slurry specimens of Lake
Hefner soil were used to graphically demonstrate the range of the 0.6
Fitting curve using Fredlund et al. (2002) model
normal shrinkage on the e- log s curve and SWCC. The experimen- Experimental data
tal data consisted of suction and shrinkage measurements of recon- 0.5
Saturation line
stituted saturated specimens under desiccation testing. The soil was
obtained from the Lake Hefner site in Oklahoma (Table 1). 0.4
The volume change was measured by conducting free shrinkage
Void ratio
Void ratio
1.50 Regina
15
1.00
10
0.50
Fitting curve using Fredlund &
Xing (1994) model
0.00
5 Measured by WP4 1E-1 1E+0 1E+1 1E+2 1E+3 1E+4 1E+5 1E+6
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Suction (kPa)
Measured by Tensiometer
0 Fig. 14. Suction versus void ratio curve showing the location of the air
1.0E-02 1.0E+00 1.0E+02 1.0E+04 1.0E+06 entry point in three soils: Ardmore, Regina, and oil sands tailings.
Suction (kPa)
0.9 18
Demonstrating Relationship between Reversible
Gravimetric water content (%)
0.7 14
Pre-shrinkage
0.6 suction 12 Tests on slurry soils can be considered as a base condition for
explaining the soil deformation mechanism and its relation to the
0.5 10
water retention. It is possible to extend the applicability of the
0.4 8 presented model to the compacted soils in the equilibrium state
0.3 6 for stable deformation of macropores and elastic deformation of mi-
SWCC-S cropores. This extension is valid if the normal shrinkage line is
0.2 Experimental data for SWCC-S 4
parallel to the saturation line, which occurs at the equilibrium state.
0.1 SWCC-w Residual 2 This indicates that the volume change is led by the saturated micro-
Experimental data for SWCC-w suction pores, which experience reversible deformation, and also indicates
0.0 0
1.0E+00 1.0E+02 1.0E+04 1.0E+06 that the macropores are stable, i.e., no accumulated swelling-
(a) Suction (kPa) shrinkage takes place.
For initially unsaturated compacted soils, Eqs. (3) and (4) are
valid for the normal shrinkage zone and when the slope of the
0.55
Experimental data
SSC is equal to 1 at the equilibrium condition. Although only lim-
0.50 e-log s curve ited experimental results are available in the literature for the SSC at
equilibrium (replotted in Fig. 15), all showed a normal shrinkage-
0.45 swelling line almost parallel to the saturation line, which verifies the
extension of the current model to compacted soils at the equilibrium
Void ratio
0.40
Pre-shrinkage state. The void ratio versus moisture ratio curves at the equilibrium
0.35 suction state for three initially compacted soils, regenerated from experi-
mental data obtained by Tripathy et al. (2002) and Estabragh et al.
0.30
(2015), are plotted in Fig. 15. The basic geotechnical properties of
0.25 Shrinkage these soils are summarized in Table 1. Tripathy et al. (2002) stated
ceases that the equilibrium condition was attained at the fourth cycle,
0.20
whereas Estabragh et al. (2015) monitored the equilibrium state
1.0E+00 1.0E+02 1.0E+04 1.0E+06
(b) Suction (kPa)
at the fifth cycle. At the equilibrium state, the swelling curve
and shrinkage curve are the same. The normal shrinkage-swelling
Fig. 13. Graphical interpretation of SWCC-w, SWCC-S, and e- log s line of the three soils in Fig. 15 is almost parallel to the saturation
curve in a single framework for Lake Hefner soil: (a) SWCC-w and line. Table 2 summarizes the test results from Tripathy et al. (2002)
SWCC-S; and (b) e- log s curve. and Estabragh et al. (2015) for all three soils. A comparison study
between the predicted volumetric strain using Eq. (3) and the mea-
sured volumetric strain from the linear normal volume change zone
the normal shrinkage zone of the SSC. Fig. 13 clearly shows that was also undertaken, and the results are summarized in Table 2.
most of the shrinkage takes place in the full saturation state before Because the slope of the normal shrinkage-swelling curve was close
the soil commences to desaturate. More experimental evidence to 1, the predicted volumetric strains using Eq. (3) were in good
for the latter observation is shown for the e- log s curve in Fig. 14. agreement with the predicted volumetric strains in Table 2.
1
Conclusions
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0.5 The pore structure of expansive soils consists of two levels, namely
micropores and macropores. Based on the properties of the micro-
and macropores and the soil shrinkage curve, this paper presents a
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 simple relationship between the slope of the soil-water character-
(a) Moisture ratio, wGs istic curve and the volume change of the micropores. Micropores
are saturated over wide ranges of water contents. The deformation
1.5 of the micropores is reversible and elastic, resulting from the ac-
tivity of clay minerals during swelling and shrinkage. In contrast,
the deformation of the macropores is mostly irreversible and
plastic, resulting from the structural rearrangement of the clay ag-
1 gregates. For slurry soils, the shrinkage curve follows the saturation
Void ratio
0.9 content, and the void ratio–suction curve were interpreted in a uni-
fied framework for initially slurry soils. The analysis results re-
0.6 vealed that a unique relationship between the virgin drying line
and the virgin shrinkage line exists for a range of suction from
0.3 the preshrinkage point to the air entry point. For compacted and
undisturbed soils, a comparison study was undertaken of the pre-
0 dicted volumetric strains using the proposed approach and mea-
0 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2 1.5 1.8
sured volumetric strains derived from soil shrinkage curves for
(c) Moisture ratio, wGs
three different soil types at the equilibrium condition. Very good
agreement was found. It is recommended that more experimental
Fig. 15. Soil shrinkage-swelling curve at the equilibrium state for
data, particularly for compacted soils, should be evaluated for the
(a) Karnataka soil A3; (b) Karnataka soil B3; and (c) mixture of
shrinkage curve at the equilibrium condition to further validate the
bentonite and kaolin.
relation between the SWCC and the soil volume change behavior.
Table 2. Summary of results of soil shrinkage at equilibrium state after several wetting–drying cycles
Soil References Number of cycles Applied pressure (kPa) SNSC MVS (%) PVS (%)
Mixture of bentonite and kaolin Estabragh et al. (2015) 5 1 0.9 18.4 20.3
Karnataka soil (A3) Tripathy et al. (2002) 4 6.25 0.97 33.7 34.6
Karnataka soil (B3) Tripathy et al. (2002) 4 6.25 1.02 24.8 24.1
Note: SNSC = slope of normal shrinkage curve; MVS = measured volumetric strain; and PVS = predicted volumetric strain.