Determining osmotic suction through electrical conductivity for unsaturated low-plasticity soils

Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity of Fractal-Textured Soils

Revisiting the thermodynamics of hardening plasticity for unsaturated soils

A thermodynamically consistent extension of the constitutive equations of saturated soils to unsaturated conditions is often worked out through the use of a unique ’effective’ interstitial pressure, accounting equivalently for the pressures of the saturating fluids acting separately on the internal solid walls of the pore network. The natural candidate for this effective interstitial pressure i...

A concise parameterization of the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils

The parameter n in the well-known expression for hydraulic conductivity K ˆ K0S e (where K0 is its value at satiation and Se the e€ective saturation) is determined as a function of the exponent in the power form of the soil±water retention relationship. The result is validated with an extensive experimental database comprising some 43 soils, collected by Mualem. Ó 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All...

Modelling plasticity of unsaturated soils in a thermodynamically consistent framework

Constitutive equations of unsaturated soils are often derived in a thermodynamically consistent framework through the use a unique ’effective’ interstitial pressure. This later is naturally chosen as the space averaged interstitial pressure. However, experimental observations have revealed that two stress state variables were needed to describe the stressstrain-strength behaviour of unsaturated...

Estimation of Water Retention Curve for Unsaturated Fine Soils

In order to obtain the soil water retention curve of an unsaturated soil which is defined as the relationship between water content and suction, extensive laboratory tests are essential. These laboratory tests are usually costly and time consuming. Moreover, for most practical problems, it has been found that approximate unsaturated soil properties are adequate for analysis. Thus, empirical pro...