Soil–water characteristic curve of unsaturated collapsible soils

Abstract Collapsible soils are almost found in unsaturated states and involved significant engineering problems. Geotechnical challenges of such represented by the hydro-mechanical behaviour during wetting–drying cycles due to humidity climate conditions. The main objective this paper is investigate soil–water characteristic curve (SWCC) collapsible soils. In study, three types were investigated as natural sandy gypseous, silty loess, artificial soil gypsum–sand mixture. Determination wetting drying paths has been done using a combination axis-translation technique ( i.e . pressure plate device) vapour equilibrium salts solution desiccators) cover wide range applied suction. test results show that air-entry value for all occurs at very low suction range. At boundary effect zone, coarse grain size mass cannot hold water molecules pore space, even with imposed Moreover, amount hysteresis varied based on geological formation homogeneity fabric. Furthermore, SWCC interpreted insignificant volume change slight reduction void ratio, especially high