Soil-Water retention behaviour of an unsaturated kaolin-sand mixture

This paper represents the soil-water retention properties of a deformable unsaturated kaolinsand mixture. The data obtained from 12 unsaturated constant water content and 6 saturated drained triaxial tests were used to study the retention behaviour. These data include the variation of soil matrix suction and degree of saturation at various levels of compaction and have the advantages of knowing the amount of void spaces in compare to conventional SWCC test results. Different equations for SWCC and SWRC curves suggested by the researchers were used to fit the tests data, and the retention properties of the soil mixture were calculated from different equations at different values of void ratio. The results demonstrate the advantage of using the series of SWRC curves including the variation of void ratio to demonstrate soilwater retention behaviour in a deformable unsaturated soil.

Keywords:

Unsaturated soils , Soil-Water retention behaviour , Matrix Suction , Degree of Saturation , Deformability