209

ARTICLE
Volumetric behavior of unsaturated soils
Eduardo Rojas and Omar Chvez

Abstract: An elastoplastic framework to account for the volumetric behavior of unsaturated soils is proposed herein. The
proposed equation is based on the effective stress principle and results in a unifying framework for the volumetric behavior for
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both saturated and unsaturated soils. The results of the proposed equation are compared with experimental results published by
different researchers. These comparisons show that the equation is adequate to account for wettingdrying and net stress
loadingunloading paths. In addition, the collapse upon wetting phenomenon can be simulated and the critical state for
unsaturated soils coincides with the proposed volumetric framework. This analysis conrms that the effective stress principle
can be applied to the volumetric behavior of unsaturated soils.

Key words: volumetric behavior, unsaturated soils, effective stress.

Rsum : Cet article prsente une proposition de concept lastoplastique qui tient compte du comportement volumique des sols
non saturs. L'quation propose est base sur le principe de la contrainte effective, et gnre un concept uni du comporte-
ment volumique pour les sols saturs et non saturs. Les rsultats de l'quation propose sont compars avec des rsultats
exprimentaux publis par diffrents chercheurs. Ces comparaisons dmontrent que l'quation est adquate pour considrer le
mouillageschage et les cheminements de contrainte nette en chargementdchargement. De plus, le phnomne
d'effondrement suite au mouillage peut tre simul, et l'tat critique des sols non saturs concide avec l'approche volumique
propose. L'analyse conrme que le principe de la contrainte effective peut tre appliqu au comportement volumique des sols
non saturs. [Traduit par la Rdaction]
For personal use only.

Mots-cls : comportement volumique, sols non saturs, contrainte effective.

Introduction suction, respectively, in a semi-logarithmic plane; p and dp repre-

Different approaches have been proposed to simulate the volu-
metric behavior of unsaturated soils. Two of the main trends are
the independent stressvariables approach and the single stress
variable approach. In the former, two different coefcients are
used to account for the contribution of net stress and suction on
the volumetric behavior. In the latter, a single volumetric coef-
cient is related to a single stress variable (in most cases referred as
the effective stress) to simulate the volumetric behavior.
One of the main advantages in using the single stress approach
is that the hydromechanical coupling observed in unsaturated
soils is implicit in the formulation. The simulation of the phenom-
enon of collapse upon wetting was one of the main objections to
this approach. However, it is presently acknowledged that the
simulation of this phenomenon requires, in addition to the effec-
tive stress equation, an appropriate elastoplastic framework. In
contrast, the independent stressvariables approach in combina-
tion with a suction-hardening elastoplastic framework clearly ex-
plains the phenomenon of collapse upon wetting while the
implementation of the hydromechanical coupling has been in-
cluded in different degrees (Vaunat et al. 2000; Galipoli et al. 2003;
Wheeler et al. 2003; Sun et al. 2007b).
The rst approach has the following general form for the elas-
toplastic volumetric strain increment dv:
sent the apparent pre-consolidation mean net stress at the current
suction and its increment, respectively; s and ds are the maximum
previous suction and its increment, respectively; and patm is the
atmospheric pressure. This expression allows great exibility in
the simulation of the volumetric behavior of unsaturated soils. It
is common to express vp as a function of suction while vs is
considered constant. However, the experimental results indicate
that vp must also depend on the mean net stress while vs must
depend on both the mean net stress and suction (see, for example,
Fleureau et al. 1993; Futai and Almeida 2005). In that sense, the
expressions for vp and vs might become more complex than it
seems. Another disadvantage of this expression is that there is not
a smooth transition between saturated and unsaturated states
(Sheng 2011). Examples of this approach are the models developed
by Alonso et al. (1990), Wheeler and Sivakumar (1995), and Thu
et al. (2007), among others.
The second approach can be written in the following general
form:
v dp

[2] dv
v p

where v represents the slope of the compression curve in the

1 dp ds axes of the logarithm of the effective mean stress versus specic
[1] dv vs volume, and p= and dp= represent the pre-consolidation effective
v vp p (s patm)
stress and its increment, respectively. If parameter v is expressed
as a function of suction alone, it shows decreasing values with
where v is the specic volume of the soil; vp and vs are the slopes increasing suction. This, however, contradicts the experimental
of the compression curves related to the mean net stress and results (Sheng 2011). To avoid this contradiction, v should be

Received 14 September 2012. Accepted 24 January 2013.

E. Rojas and O. Chvez. Universidad Autnoma de Quertaro, Facultad de Ingeniera, Centro Universitario, Cerro de las Campanas, CP: 76010, Quertaro, Qro, Mexico.
Corresponding author: Eduardo Rojas (e-mail: erg@uaq.mx).

Can. Geotech. J. 50: 209222 (2013) dx.doi.org/10.1139/cgj-2012-0341 Published at www.nrcresearchpress.com/cgj on 5 March 2013.
 210
written as a function of the mean net stress, the pre-consolidation
stress, and suction. Another possibility is to write v as a function
of the degree of saturation (Sheng 2011). The effective stress ap-
proach has been used in the models proposed by Khogo et al.
(1993), Loret and Khalili (2002), Sheng et al. (2004), Sun et al.
(2007b), Kohler and Hofstetter (2008), Koliji et al. (2010), Casini
(2012), and Zhou et al. (2012), among others.
Recently, Sheng et al. (2008a) proposed a combination of these
two trends using two different volumetric parameters in conjunc-
tion with a stress parameter that accounts for the effects of both
net stress and suction in the form
p dp s (p ds s)
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[3] dv vp vs
Parameter vs can be written as a function of vp according to
the following relationship (Sheng et al. 2008a):
vp s sa
[4] vs sa 1
vp s sa
s1
where sa represents the saturation suction (i.e., the value of suc-
tion at the air-entry value). In this case, the volumetric strain by
net stress or suction increase depends on both the current net
stress and the current suction; therefore, eq. [3] can more accu-
rately reproduce the volumetric response of unsaturated soils re-
For personal use only.
ported in the international literature.
One of the most important features of this equation is the in-
troduction to some extent of the hydromechanical coupling
through the parameter sa. In addition, although the two compres-
sion indexes vs and vp can be related using eq. [4], different
approaches can be used for more general cases. When plotted in
the mean net stress axis versus suction plane, the yield surface
generated with eq. [3] shows a concavity (see Fig. 1). In fact most
constitutive models for unsaturated soils show a concavity at the
transition between saturated and unsaturated states (see, for ex-
ample, Borja 2002; Sun et al. 2007b; Hoyos and Arduino 2008;
Zhang and Zhou 2008). Although, this concavity poses some dif-
culties in obtaining a unique response, this can be solved numer-
ically. By following stress path ABCD shown in Fig. 1, the model
can simulate the phenomenon of collapse upon wetting. Finally,
eq. [3] cannot be integrated and therefore requires special treat-
ment in the stress integration of the constitutive model.
The aim of this paper is to present an elastoplastic framework
that can be used to model the volumetric behavior of unsaturated
soils based on the single stressvariable approach. Furthermore,
this approach results in a unifying framework for saturated and
unsaturated soils. To that purpose, a solidporous model capable
of simulating the soil-water retention curve (SWRC) and the dis-
tribution of water into the pores of the material needs to be in-
cluded into the formulation. This framework deals only with
isotropic stress states and the term suction refers only to matric
suction.
Proposed equation
Jurez-Badillo (1975) and Buttereld (1979) proposed the follow-
ing equation for the volumetric behavior of saturated soils:
dv dp

[5] dv v
these parameters during wettingdrying cycles. This solidporous
v p
Integration of the above equation results in
Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 50, 2013
v
v p
0
[6]
v0 p

where p
0 represents the initial effective stress corresponding to a
volume v0 in the virgin consolidation line. However, if the mean
effective stress p= becomes very large, the specic volume (v = 1 + e,
where e is the void ratio) tends to zero, which is clearly undesir-
able. A more likely relationship would involve the void ratio in-
stead of the specic volume, in the form of
de dp

[7] e

e p
where e represents the slope of the compression line in a loga-
rithmic plane of effective stresses versus void ratio and, because
the void ratio reduces with increasing effective stress, it exhibits
negative values. A similar expression was proposed by Sheng et al.
(2008b) for the volumetric behavior of sands upon isotropic load-
ing. Integration of the above equation results in
e p
e
[8]
e0 p
0
where e0 is the initial void ratio.
Figure 2 shows the plot of this equation in the axes of the
logarithm of the mean effective stress versus void ratio for differ-
ent values of the compression index v and for an initial void ratio
equal to 1.14 at a mean effective stress of 0.02 MPa. Most soils show
values of the parameter v ranging between 0.05 and 0.3, in
which case the volumetric behavior for stresses in the range of
civil engineering interest (between 0.1 and 10 MPa) can be approx-
imated by straight lines, as is commonly done.
For the case of unsaturated soils, their volumetric behavior can
be analyzed mainly through the results of two types of tests: iso-
tropic loading by net stress increase at constant suction and suc-
tion increase at constant net stress. The results of the rst type of
test can be summarized as follows: when suction is below the
air-entry value, the soil behaves as saturated. When suction be-
comes larger than the air-entry value, a great quantity of menisci
of water appears among the solid particles. These menisci pro-
duce additional contact stresses between the solids, increasing
the stability of the large pores as if the pre-consolidation stress of
the soil had been increased. This means that the material experi-
ences suction-hardening. Therefore, the shrinkage of these pores
can only be produced by applying further increments of the mean
net stress. The greater the applied suction, the larger the mean net
stress required for the shrinkage of these pores. In other words,
the soil behaves as an overconsolidated material.
For the second type of test, the soil behaves exactly the same as
for the rst case as long as suction remains below the air-entry
value. In these conditions, suction has the same effect as an iso-
tropic stress applied to the material. When suction surpasses the
air-entry value, a signicant number of pores become dry. Under
these conditions, when suction increases, all saturated pores tend
to shrink following the same law as for the saturated material. On
the contrary, all dry pores tend not to react to suction changes.
According to these descriptions, the evaluation of the volumet-
ric response of unsaturated materials requires the quantication
of the area of solids affected by the menisci of water and the pores
that remain saturated at a certain suction. In that sense, it is
desirable to generate a solidporous model capable of evaluating
model can be built with the information provided by the grain-
size distribution (GSD) and the pore-size distribution (PSD) of the
material.
Published by NRC Research Press
 Rojas and Chvez
Fig. 1. Model proposed by Sheng et al. (2008a) for the volumetric behavior of soils.
Suc
on
B C
Evolu
on of the
yield surface
Zero shear
strength line
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1350
A
Fig. 2. Volumetric behavior of saturated soils for different values of
compression index.
For personal use only.
The studies on the PSD of compacted soils indicate that these
materials usually show a bimodal distribution, meaning that they
show two crests (Simms and Yanful 2002): one corresponding to
the macropores or large pores and the other to the mesopores or
medium-size pores. Both macropores and mesopores constitute
the cavities of the material. The macropores are cavities that show
special arrangements of solid particles in the form of vaults or
arches. These pores have the characteristic of being larger than
the solid particles forming the pore; therefore, their equilibrium
is precarious upon isotropic loading or shearing. This can be con-
rmed by analyzing the PSD of different soils before and after
performing triaxial tests, as Futai and Almeida (2005) and Simms
and Yanful (2001) have done. These researchers used the mercury
intrusion porosimetry (MIP) test to compare the PSD before and
after testing a soil. They found that most of the macropores re-
duce in size and transform into smaller pores at the end of these
tests. They concluded that macropores are responsible for most of
the volumetric response of soils.
In contrast, the mesopores have the characteristic of being smaller
than their surrounding solids; therefore, they are very stable and in
general maintain their size upon isotropic loading or shearing.
Sometimes soils show a monomodal size distribution similar to, for
example, uniform dense sands. In this case, macropores are absent
from the soil and as such all volumetric deformation is generated by
the shrinkage of mesopores, which in any case is small compared
with the volumetric response of a bimodal structured soil. Mono-
modal size distributions can also be obtained from slurries made of
soils showing uniform GSD. When slurries start to dry, they adopt
well-dened structures with diverse PSDs, which depend greatly on
211
D
Mean net stress
Fig. 3. Soil structure: macropores, mesopores, micropores, and
solids.
Mesopore
Macropore
Solid
Micropore
the GSD of the material. Bimodal GSDs usually generate bimodal
PSDs, as is observed in the experimental results shown later. These
bimodal or monomodal structures are also reected in the shape of
the SWRCs. In any case, the porous model can simulate both bimodal
and monomodal structured soils. In the last case, it is sufcient to
consider that macropores do not exist in the porous structure of the
material.
Both macropores and mesopores are interconnected by pores of
another type called bonds, throats or micropores, which are al-
ways smaller than the cavities they connect. These pores are
formed by the throats or necks that appear at the contacts be-
tween solid particles, and are the smallest pores of the soils when-
ever the solid grains do not show any relevant porosity. All these
elements are shown schematically in Fig. 3.
Now, consider a saturated soil made of a mixture of sand and
clay subjected to successive increments of suction. When suction
becomes large enough, the rst pores to dry are the largest ones
located at the boundaries of the soil. With further suction incre-
ments, more bonds and cavities connected to the dry pores start to
dry and eventually some solids appear completely surrounded by
dry pores. At this point, a dry fraction emerges in the soil sample.
On the contrary, the smallest bonds and mesopores located inside
the packets of clay can be smaller or equal to the thickness of the
adsorbed water layer, meaning that they remain saturated even at
very large suctions. Therefore, in general, unsaturated soils can
exhibit three different fractions: one is the dry fraction (f d), where
solids are surrounded exclusively by dry pores; another is the
saturated fraction (f s), where all the pores surrounding the solid
particles are saturated; the nal one is the unsaturated fraction
(f u), where only some of the pores surrounding the solids are
saturated. Each one of these fractions (f i) is obtained by adding the
volume of solids (Vsi ) to the volume of pores (Viv) of that specic
Published by NRC Research Press
 212
fraction divided by the total volume of the material (V), in the
form
Vsi Vvi
[9] fi
V
where superscript i represents the type of fraction: dry (d), satu-
rated (s) or unsaturated (u). The development of these fractions
depends on the GSD, the PSD, the value of suction applied to the
material, and the direction of the suction path, whether it be
wetting or drying.
The volume of saturated (Vss) or dried (Vsd) solids is obtained by
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adding the volume of all solids that are completely surrounded by
saturated or dry pores, respectively. In the same way, the volume
of saturated (Vsv) or dry (Vdv ) pores is obtained by adding the volume
of all pores surrounding saturated or dry solids, respectively. The
remaining solids (Vsu) and their surrounding pores (Vuv ) form the
unsaturated fraction.
Following the descriptions of the volumetric behavior of unsat-
urated soils and their porous structure, it is hypothesized that
their volumetric behavior can be represented by the same rela-
tionship established for saturated materials (eq. [8]) while their
effective stress is given by Bishop's equation
[10] p
p s
with Bishop's parameter dened by the following relationship
(Rojas 2008a):
For personal use only.
[11] f s Sw
u u
f effective stress applied to the soil and is represented by the matric
where Sw u
Vwu/Vvu represents the degree of saturation of the un-
saturated fraction of the soil while Vwu and Vvu are the volume of
water and the volume of voids of the unsaturated fraction, respec-
tively. Equation [11] has been obtained from the analysis of the
distribution of stresses among the different phases when a load is
applied on a representative section of an unsaturated soil. The
detailed procedure can be consulted in Rojas (2008a).
According to the previous equation, the mean effective stress p=
can be written as
[12] p
p s(f s Sw
u u
f )
The above equation represents the mean effective stress im-
posed on the solid skeleton by both net stress and suction. The
term in parentheses can be written as
[13] f s Sw
u u i i
f iSw f
This term represents the addition of the product of every frac-
tion by its degree of saturation. This means that for the saturated
fraction, the effect of an increment of suction is the same as an
increment of the mean net stress (term sf s in eq. [12]) because in
s
this case Sw 1; whereas for the unsaturated fraction, the effect of
an increment of suction is proportional to the degree of satura-
u u
tion of this fraction (term sSw f in eq. [12]). Finally, the dry fraction
f d shows a nil degree of saturation and therefore does not appear
in eq. [12], meaning that suction has no effect on this fraction. In
other words, eq. [13] represents a weighted degree of saturation of
the soil obtained by adding the product of the fraction by its
degree of saturation for all three fractions. In that sense, param-
eter depends on the particular structure of the soil, which is
included in the solidporous model through the GSD and the
main retention curves. The inuence of the structure of the soil
Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 50, 2013
and the hysteresis of the SWRC on parameter was recognized by
Bishop in 1960 (Bishop 1960).
Even if the dry fraction does not play any role in the volumetric
behavior of the soil during suction increase nor appears in the
determination of parameter , it certainly plays a role during
mean net stress increase as in this case all fractions contribute
equally to the volumetric deformation of the soil. This means that
the term p in eq. [12] is multiplied by the sum of all three fractions,
which is equal to one. This agrees with the description of the
experimental behavior of unsaturated soils provided before.
It is noteworthy that eq. [8] uses the same compressive index e
for mean net stress or suction increase although, for this last case,
the index is affected by parameter , which represents the propor-
tion of pores affected by suction changes. In other words, eq. [8]
represents a single compression curve for both net stress and
suction increase. According to eq. [12], the mean effective stress
for saturated soils (f s = 1, f u = 0) becomes Terzaghi's mean effective
stress, meaning that there is a smooth transition between satu-
rated and unsaturated states.
In addition to eq. [8], the modeling of the volumetric behavior of
unsaturated soils requires an elastoplastic framework. The frame-
work considered herein is sketched in Fig. 4 in the axes of mean
net stress (Fig. 4a) and mean effective stress (Fig. 4b). A normally
consolidated soil sample exhibits a loading collapse yield surface
(LCYS) represented by a line forming an angle of 135 with the
mean net stress axis as established by Sheng (2011) (Fig. 4a). When
this sample is subjected to a suction s, the drying path (repre-
sented by a vertical line in Fig. 4a) crosses the initial yield surface
generating a plastic deformation. This plastic deformation pro-
duces the hardening of the LCYS, which displaces to the right-
hand side. This displacement depends on the increment of the
stress s. In other words, s represents the increment of the mean
net stress that produces the same volumetric plastic deformation
generated during the drying of the soil. If, at this point, the soil is
wetted up to saturation, it follows an elastic unloading that does
not affect the position of the LCYS. Thus, it can be inferred that
the pre-consolidation stress has increased in the quantity s. This
means that the hardened LCYS can be represented by a vertical
line in the mean net stress plane and therefore it shows the same
shape as the drying path. The evolution of the LCYS with suction
is shown in Fig. 4a. If the intersecting points of this surface with
the loadings paths followed during net stress increase at different
suctions are linked together by a line (ne dotted line in Fig. 4a), it
adopts the same shape of the LCYS experimentally determined by
different researchers when suction-hardening is accepted (see, for
example, Futai and Almeida 2005; Thu et al. 2007; Infante Sedano
and Vanapalli 2010). It can be argued (as Sheng (2011) does) that the
experimental procedure used to obtain the LCYS considers that
the soil initially behaves elastically during the loading stage after
drying (suction-hardening), but this could not be the case. Only
the analysis of more experimental results would give light to this
issue.
In the axis of the mean effective stress, the drying path initially
shows a slope of 45 and then deviates from this direction as the
soil becomes unsaturated. Similarly, the LCYS adopts this same
shape and displaces the quantity s on the mean effective stress
axis as shown in Fig. 4b.
According to this framework, when eq. [8] is plotted for a set of
tests performed at constant suction, each sample undergoes a
different hardening given by the quantity s and therefore the
loading paths are represented by a family of curves in the axes of
the logarithm of the mean net stress versus void ratio as shown in
Fig. 5a. These curves are similar to the volumetric response of
unsaturated soils reported by different researchers (Wheeler and
Sivakumar 1995; Romero et al. 2003; Futai and Almeida 2005;
Sheng et al. 2008b). When these results are plotted on the axes of
the logarithm of the mean effective stress versus void ratio, a set
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 Rojas and Chvez 213

Fig. 4. Evolution of LCYS during drying in the (a) mean net stress axis and (b) mean effective stress axis. LC, loading collapse; p0i , initial pre-
consolidation stress.

(a)

Suc
on
Elas
c reloading during mean net
Ini
al LCYS stress increase aer drying

Drying path Yield surface reported

from experimental results
s4

LC yield surface at the

s3 end of the drying stage
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s2 Evolu
on of the LC yield

135 0 surface with suc
on
s1

s1 Mean net stress

s2

s3
s4

(b) Drying path

Suc
on
For personal use only.

Ini
al LC Elas
c reloading during

yield surface mean net stress increase
aer drying
s4
s4
LC yield surface at
s3 the end of the drying
stage
Evolu
on of the LC
s2 yield surface with
s1 suc
on
450
s1
Mean eec
ve stress
s2

s3
s4
p*0i

e
of curves, as those shown in Fig. 5b, is obtained. In this case, the e p

data reported by Futai and Almeida 2005 for a particular soil were [14]
e0 p
0
used to establish the values of Bishop's parameter at different
suctions as is shown below. In general, these curves can be assim-
ilated to parallel straight lines for small ranges of the mean effec- This behavior happens when the mean net stress applied to
tive stress. Because parameter depends on the SWRCs of the the soil reduces while suction remains constant, but this may
material, the amount of suction-hardening also depends on these happen eventually when the soil attains large suctions during a
curves. In general, soils showing large ranges of suction exhibit drying path because the mean effective stress reaches a maxi-
large suction-hardening. In contrast, suction-hardening is dif-
mum at certain suction and then decreases as will be shown
cult to observe in soils showing small ranges of suction.
later.
Elastic behavior of the material occurs when the current mean u
effective stress is smaller than the maximum mean effective To determine the values of f s, f u, and Sw required to obtain
stress experienced by the soil. For such a case, parameter e be- Bishop's parameter , a solidporous model able to simulate the
comes the slope of the unloadingre-loading stress path e (which SWRCs and the distribution of water in the pores of soil needs to
also shows negative values), and the relationship in eq. [8] trans- be built. A succinct description of the solidporous model adopted
forms into herein is provided in the next section.

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 214
Fig. 5. Numerical volumetric behavior of soils related to (a) mean
net stress and (b) mean effective stress.
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For personal use only.
Solidporous model
A complete description of the solidporous model employed in
this paper can be found elsewhere (Rojas 2008b); only a brief de-
scription of the main aspects of the model is provided here. The
solidporous model is intended to roughly simulate the structure
of real soils. It can be built as a regular two- or three-dimensional
network made of the four distinct elements already mentioned:
macropores, mesopores, bonds, and solids. The cavities are placed
at the nodes of the network whereas the horizontal and vertical
lines linking these nodes represent the throats. The solids are
placed in the spaces left by cavities and throats (see Fig. 6). In a
three-dimensional network, the cavities are represented by
spheres and the throats by cylinders, while for a two-dimensional
network the cavities are circles and the throats, rectangles. The
number of pores of each size can be dened from the PSD of the
soil. MIP or scanning electron micrograph (SEM) techniques can
be used to obtain the PSD. Then, the PSD curve is subdivided into
a number of constant sizerange columns. The total area below
the curve represents the total volume of voids and the area of each
column represents the volume of the pores of a certain range. The
pore size assigned to each column is the mean size of the corre-
sponding range. Because the volume of a single pore is deter-
mined by its size, the number of pores of each size can be
obtained. Similarly, the number of solids of each size is deter-
mined from the GSD of the material using the same procedure. All
cavities and bonds are distributed at random in the network.
However, as throats should always be smaller than their linked
cavities and they should not superpose one to the other when they
are concurrent to a cavity, a construction principle has to be es-
tablished to ensure that the network is physically possible. In a
bidimensional network, this principle states that two contiguous
Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 50, 2013
Fig. 6. Solidporous model.
bonds connected to a cavity at an angle of 90 (b1 and b2 in Fig. 6)
should comply with the following condition to avoid overlapping:
2 2
[15] rb1 rb2 rs2
where rb1, rb2, and rs represent the radius of the two contiguous
bonds and that of the cavity, respectively. In the nodes where the
construction principle is not respected, exchanges of bonds and
cavities with other nodes are performed until this principle is
fullled everywhere in the network. Once the porous network has
been built, the solids are placed at the voids between cavities and
bonds. The solids are also placed at random, but following a size
strategy. This strategy ensures that large solids are placed around
large pores and small solids around small pores. In addition, only
the most external throats and solids of the model are communi-
cated to the boundaries as shown in Fig. 6. This procedure is
intended to approximately simulate the structure of real soils.
Once the solidporous model has been built, it is possible to
simulate the retention curves of the soil and nd the values of
u
parameters f s, f u, and Sw . For that purpose it is considered that the
lling and drying of pores subjected to a certain suction is deter-
mined by the Laplace equation, which is written as
[16] ua uw 2Ts(cos) /rc
where ua and uw are the air and water pressures, respectively; Ts
represents the tension of the gasuid interface; is the contact
angle between the uid and the solid particles; and rc is the max-
imum radius for a pore to remain saturated at the current suction.
This means that all pores with a radius equal to or smaller than rc
could saturate during a wetting process. However, because all
pores are interconnected, besides complying with eq. [16], pores
must be connected to an element that is already saturated and
linked to the bulk of water to saturate.
At the beginning of a wetting process, it is considered that all
pores are dry, that suction is very large, and that it reduces by
steps. The rst pore that saturates is the smallest throat located at
the boundaries of the model. With further reduction in suction,
larger bonds and the smallest cavities connected to these throats
can saturate. For each decrement in suction, all pores connected
to saturated pores that, in addition, comply with eq. [16] can be
identied. Thus the volume of saturated pores can be determined
for each value of suction and the wetting retention curve can be
built.
In the same manner, during a drying process all pores are ini-
tially saturated and suction increases by steps. The rst pore to dry
is the largest throat located at the boundaries of the model. How-
ever, because cavities are always larger than throats, at the same
time as this bond dries its connected cavity also dries. With fur-
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 Rojas and Chvez
Fig. 7. Results for Montmorillonite clay: (a) tting of SWRCs, (b) numerical PSD and experimental GSD, (c) parameters fs, fu, Suw, and , and
(d) volumetric behavior by suction increase (experimental data from Fleureau et al. 1993).
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ther increments of suction, smaller bonds and their connected
cavities dry. Therefore, pores larger than rc will dry only if they are
connected to an element that has already been dried. During this
process, it is possible to quantify the volume of voids being dried
for each increment of suction and build the drying retention
curve of the material.
These curves can be compared with the experimental results to
validate the model (see, for example, Rojas 2008b). In general, the
PSD of a porous material obtained from an MIP test or the image
analysis of SEM solely reports the size distribution of cavities. This
happens because the volume of bonds is so small compared with
that of cavities that it is extremely difcult to differentiate one
from the other. In addition, PSDs obtained from MIP tests, in
general, report smaller pore sizes as, to intrude a cavity, mercury
needs to rst intrude a linking bond, which requires a larger
mercury pressure than the cavity. For that reason, a more practi-
cal procedure to obtain the PSD of a material is by tting the
numerical SWRCs to the experimental curves. This process can be
accomplished by successively modifying an initially proposed PSD
for both cavities and bonds until the best t for both curves is
obtained. During this tting process, it is taken into account that
the drying curve depends primarily on the size distribution of
bonds while the wetting curve depends for the most part on the
size distribution of cavities (Haines 1929). This is because the rst
pores to dry are the largest (cavities) while the smallest (bonds)
require larger values of suction to dry. Because cavities are larger
than their concurrent bonds, when a bond dries, the cavity to
which it is connected also dries. Therefore, the size distribution of
bonds regulates the drying retention curve. In contrast, the rst
pores to saturate are the smallest (bonds) while the larger (cavi-
ties) require further reduction in the value of suction to saturate.
Because all bonds are smaller than the cavity they are connected
215
to, when a cavity saturates, all of its concurrent bonds also satu-
rate. Therefore, the size distribution of cavities regulates the wet-
ting process.
For the tting process it is desirable to obtain the SWRCs from
samples that have been subjected to the same equalization stress
path prior to the volumetric test itself to include the initial struc-
ture of the soil in the solidporous model. Additionally, it is al-
ways possible to introduce the changes in the PSD while the
volumetric response of the soil sample progresses because macro-
pores and cavities are considered as different entities. For this
purpose, a similar approach to that used by Koliji et al. (2006) can
be used. However, the evolution of the PSD during the progress of
the test is required to validate the procedure adopted for the
pore-size reduction. Unfortunately, there is a lack of experimental
data on this issue.
As the solidporous model simulates the distribution of water
in the pores of the material at each increment of suction, it is
possible to determine the volume of solids and pores pertaining to
the saturated, unsaturated, and dry fractions and thus obtain the
u
values of parameters f s, f u, and Sw as required in eq. [12]. In that
sense, the role of the GSD in the solidporous model is essential
for the determination of these parameters, but not for the reten-
tion curves.
An important drawback to the solidporous model is that
u
parameters f s, f u, and Sw have not been experimentally veried.
However, comparisons between experimental and numerical
macroscopic results can be used to validate the model. In addi-
tion, important improvements have been made on the combina-
tion of X-ray and neutron tomography techniques that may be
helpful in providing results with respect to this issue in the near
future.
Published by NRC Research Press
 216 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 50, 2013

Numerical and experimental results comparison Fig. 8. Results for Sterrebeek loam: (a) tting of the SWRCs,
To evaluate the proposed framework for the volumetric behav- (b) parameter , and (c) volumetric behavior by suction increase at two
ior of unsaturated soils, the results of various tests performed on different net stresses (experimental data from Fleureau et al. 1993).
a variety of materials and for different loading conditions were
employed. Fleureau et al. (1993) prepared different clayey soils at
a water content of 1.5 times its liquid limit. This slurry was con-
solidated in an oedometric cell with vertical stresses ranging
between 0.06 and 0.2 MPa. Then the samples followed a drying
wetting path where suction was controlled using the axis transla-
tion technique for low suctions and the vapor circulation
technique for large suctions. With the results of these tests, the
variations of the void ratio, the degree of saturation, and the
water content with the value of suction were determined. Also
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the GSD and both SWRCs for some of these materials were re-
ported. The PSD of the soil was inferred by tting the numerical
SWRCs with the experimental results according to the aforemen-
tioned procedure.
With the numerical PSD, experimental GSD, and void ratio, the
solidporous model was built. Using this model, the values of
u
parameters f s, f u, and Sw were determined as a function of suction
for both the wetting and drying paths. With these parameters, the
effective stress was computed using eq. [12] and the numerical
volumetric response of the material was derived from eq. [8].
Figure 7a shows the tting of the SWRCs for a Montmorillonite
clay. Figure 7b represents the numerical PSD obtained at the end
of the tting process along with the experimental GSD of the
material in the axes of size versus relative volume. The relative
volume is the volume of pores (or solids) of a certain size divided
For personal use only.

by the total volume of pores (or solids). Notice the similarity in

shape of these two curves as has already been pointed out by
Alonso et al. (2008). Figure 7c shows the values of parameters f s, f d,
u
f u , Sw , and obtained from the solidporous model during a dry-
ing path. It can be observed that the saturated fraction starts
reducing at very low suctions while the dry fraction only appears
at very large suctions, whereas the unsaturated fraction increases
up to a certain point and then decreases to become nil at very
large suctions. It can also be observed that parameter is closely
related to the saturated fraction of the soil. In contrast, the degree
u
of saturation of the unsaturated fraction Sw shows important uc-
tuations at low values of suction. This happens because most of
the soil is still saturated at these values of suction and the unsat-
urated fraction (represented by those solids and their surround-
ing pores showing a combination of saturated and dry pores) is
composed of a small number of elements (solids, cavities, and
bonds). Therefore, a small change in the number of saturated
elements produces important changes in the value of this param-
eter. Only when the number of elements of this fraction is large
enough does the curve become smooth, showing a continuous
increase and, at a certain point, it reduces to become nil at large
suctions.
eq. [8] adequately simulates the volumetric behavior of the
Finally, the numerical prediction and the experimental results material.
of the volumetric behavior upon drying are compared in Fig. 7d. Futai and Almeida (2005) reported the results of different tests
For each increment of suction, the value of parameters f s, f u, and performed on undisturbed samples of a residual soil. Additional
Swu
were obtained; with these parameters, the value of is com- data included the GSD, the PSD obtained from MIP tests, and both
puted and the new void ratio is calculated. These results were SWRCs obtained by combining the suction plate and the lter
obtained with e = 0.36. paper technique. Figure 9 shows the results of isotropic compres-
Following the same procedure the results of the Sterrebeek sion tests done on gneiss samples subjected to three different
loam were simulated. Figure 8a shows the tting of the wetting suctions.
(W) and drying (D) SWRCs. Figure 8b shows the values for param- The tting of the SWRCs is shown in Fig. 9a. This tting process
eter at wetting and drying. Finally, Fig. 8c presents the compar- resulted in the numerical PSD shown in Fig. 9b, in which the
ison between numerical and experimental results for the experimental results of an MIP test are also included and compare
volumetric behavior of this material. In this case, the volumetric well with the numerical results. Figure 9c shows the values of
response of the loam in the form of slurry following a drying path parameter obtained from eq. [11]. Finally, Fig. 9d shows the com-
was determined for two different initial conditions: at zero net parison between numerical and experimental results for the vol-
stress and a pre-consolidated net stress of 0.2 MPa. These results umetric behavior during isotropic loading tests on samples
were obtained with e = 0.12. For both cases, it can be said that subjected to different suctions. It can be noted that although

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 Rojas and Chvez
Fig. 9. Results for residual gneiss: (a) tting of the SWRCs, (b) numerical and experimental PSD, (c) values of parameter , and (d) volumetric
behavior at different suctions (experimental data from Futai and Almeida 2005).
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For personal use only.
there is some scattering for the sample tested at a suction of
0.3 MPa, the model adequately simulates the volumetric behavior
of an isotropically loaded soil subjected to different suctions. The
volumetric strains were determined using eq. [14] up to the yield
stress generated at the end of the drying stage. From that point,
eq. [8] was used for the rest of the curve. Because the increase in
the yield stress of a saturated sample generated during a drying
stage is given by the quantity s, the nal yield stress is obtained
by adding the initial pre-consolidation stress of the soil in satu-
rated conditions to the increment of the yield stress during the
drying stage.
The pre-consolidation stress of the material in saturated condi-
tions is around 0.14 MPa, as can be observed in Fig. 9d. The values
of parameter for the different suctions were obtained from
Fig. 9c resulting in = 0.6 for s = 0.1 MPa and = 0.58 for s = 0.3 MPa,
which produced the following pre-consolidation stresses: p0 = 0.2
for s = 0.1 MPa and p0 = 0.31 for s = 0.3 MPa. From the results shown
in Fig. 9d it can be noticed that the theoretical pre-consolidation
stress for the unsaturated samples corresponds well with the ex-
perimental results. The considered values for the compression
index in loading and re-loading were e = 0.25 and e = 0.04.
Similar tests were performed by Cunningham et al. (2003) in a
mixture of 20% speswhite kaolin, 10% London clay, and 70% silica
silt. With this mixture, a slurry was prepared with a water content
of 1.5 times its liquid limit. Then it was one-dimensionally pre-
consolidated in a 20.4 cm diameter oedometric cell to a maximum
vertical stress of 0.2 MPa. The soil samples were then trimmed
from this pre-consolidated soil mass to the appropriate size. The
tests included the GSD, both SWRCs obtained from the lter pa-
per technique, isotropic loading, and shear tests at constant suc-
tion in the triaxial apparatus. For these last tests, suction was
controlled using the air circulation technique and was measured
217
directly in the soil samples using two suction probes. Some of the
experimental results are shown in Fig. 10. The experimental
SWRCs and the numerical tting for these curves are shown in
Fig. 10a. Figure 10b shows the variation of parameter with suc-
tion. With these values it is possible to obtain the numerical vol-
umetric response of the material during suction increase as
shown in Fig. 10c. In this case, the experimental behavior shows a
clear elastic rebound (even if there is some scattering) indicating
that the effective stress reduces at some stage during the drying
process. This happens because as suction increases, the value of
the matric stress (represented in this gure by the product s)
reaches a maximum and then decreases, as shown in Fig. 10d. In
this gure, it can be noted that when suction reaches a value
slightly greater than 1 MPa, the matric stress reaches its maxi-
mum and then reduces while suction keeps increasing. When the
drying path inverses to wetting, the matric stress reduces further
then increases (but never reaches the drying maximum value) and
nally reduces again while suction keeps reducing. Therefore,
when the matric stress reduces after reaching its maximum value,
the numerical response switches from elastoplastic (eq. [8]) to
purely elastic (eq. [14]). The numerical results were obtained with
the following parameters: e = 0.13 and e = 0.04. Similar results
were reported and simulated by Vlahinic et al. (2009) and Blight
(2010) on different porous materials. This reduction of the effec-
tive stress during drying can also be observed in the experimental
results reporting the strength of the material with suction. A
maximum value and then a reduction of the strength can be
observed if suction is increased sufciently (see, for example,
Escario and Juc 1989; Gan and Fredlund 1996; Vanapalli et al.
1996; Pereira et al. 2006; Vesga 2008; Vlahinic et al. 2009; Zhang
and Zhou 2008). This same behavior is observed in the tensional
strength of soils (Fredlund et al. 1996). Also, some constitutive
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 218
Fig. 10. Results for soil mixture: (a) tting of SWRCs, (b) parameter , (c) volumetric response with suction, (d) matric stress s, and
(e) volumetric response with mean net stress (experimental data from Cunningham et al. 2003).
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models consider this reduction in the strength of soils with suc-
tion (Toll and Ong 2005; Vesga 2008; Benatti et al. 2010). However,
not all soils show this behavior; for example, soils with large clay
contents may show a continuous increase in strength with suction
due to the presence of a great number of menisci of adsorbed
water that do not disappear even at very large suctions. On the
contrary, the effect of suction on the strength of sandy soils dis-
appears completely at large suctions. Figure 10e shows the numer-
ical and experimental results for isotropic loading at different
suctions on the axis of the mean net stress versus void ratio. In
this case the materials were dried from slurry and because of that,
the pre-consolidation stress equals the matric stress s, where
parameter was obtained from Fig. 10b.
Similar tests were conducted by Thu et al. (2007) on statically
compacted industrial coarse kaolin. All samples were compacted
at the optimum water content and then saturated using back
pressure. Afterwards, all samples were consolidated at an isotro-
pic net stress of 10 kPa following a drying stage where suction
Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 50, 2013
ranged between 0 and 300 kPa. Finally, the samples were isotro-
pically loaded up to a net stress of 700 kPa. The tting of the SWRC
in wetting and drying is shown in Fig. 11a. The values of parameter
in wetting and drying are shown in Fig. 11b. Finally, Fig. 11c shows
the comparison between experimental and numerical results for
the isotropic loading tests performed at different suctions.
The pre-consolidation stress for each test was obtained by add-
ing the matric stress s to the saturated pre-consolidation stress
(0.025 MPa), resulting in the following pre-consolidation stresses:
0.07, 0.09, 0.1, and 0.1 MPa for suctions of 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, and
0.2 MPa, respectively. The values of parameter for each suction
were obtained from Fig. 11b. These results show good agreement
for both the pre-consolidation stress and the overall volumetric
behavior of the material.
Discussion
The phenomenon of collapse upon wetting has been one of the
major reasons to refute the suitability of Bishop's equation to
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 Rojas and Chvez
Fig. 11. Results for coarse kaolin: (a) tting of SWRCs, (b) parameter
in wetting and drying, and (c) volumetric behavior (experimental
data from Thu et al. 2007).
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For personal use only.
model the volumetric behavior of unsaturated soils. Based on the
volumetric framework proposed in this paper, it is possible to
review the phenomenon of collapse upon wetting from the point
of view of effective stresses. Consider a soil that undergoes the
stress path ABCEH shown in Fig. 12 in the plane of effective stress
versus suction. It is initially saturated and subjected to an isotro-
pic stress p0i. Then it undergoes a drying path followed by a net
stress increase (p). Subsequently, it follows a wetting path and
nally a new drying cycle is applied. The yield surface for a nor-
mally consolidated (NC) material is represented by a vertical line
as shown in Fig. 12, meaning that any increase in the effective
stress produces a plastic volumetric strain. At the beginning of the
drying path, the soil is saturated and the value of equals 1 (refer
to eq. [10]), meaning that the initial slope of the drying path is 45
as previously established. Along the drying path, the effective
stress increases by the quantity (s). If a nal suction, s0, is
reached, then the increment of the effective stress starting from
219
the saturated condition is 0s0. This increment in the effective
stress produces plastic volumetric deformations that harden the
LCYS in the same quantity: 0s0. At this stage, the LCYS shows the
same shape as the drying path. When the soil is loaded (path BE),
the increment in the net stress needs to cross the LCYS to activate
the elastoplastic behavior of the material. Therefore, an initial
elastic behavior is observed before the soil shows irreversible de-
formations. This result is conrmed by the experimental results
reported by different authors (see, for example, Futai and Almeida
2005; Jotisankasa et al. 2007; Thu et al. 2007). At the end of the
loading stage, the hardening of the LCYS (p
0) at the effective
stress axis (s = 0) is, according to eqs. [7] and [14],
p
(1 e)p

[17] p
0 ep pv
e(e e) e(e e)
where ep and pv represent the plastic void ratio change and the
plastic volumetric strain increment, respectively. Thus, the LCYS
tilts towards the right-hand side as it goes from the stress reached
at the end of loading to the stress representing the hardening at
the effective stress axis as shown in Fig. 12. At this stage, a wetting
path can now cut the LCYS and the soil is in the condition to
collapse.
The shape of the hardened LCYS can be determined in a way
similar to the usual experimental procedure: departing from the
previous yield surface a load is applied to produce a plastic defor-
mation that hardens the yield surface; then, following an unload-
ing, path a new state of stresses is reached inside the elastic zone;
and nally the sample is loaded until yield is observed, dening a
new point on the hardened yield surface. For the numerical case,
a similar procedure is applied except that the same increment of
the plastic deformation obtained during yielding should be ob-
tained with a different combination of stresses. In addition, these
different combinations of the state of stresses need to depart from
the previous yield surface. In this case, the initial yield surface is
the one obtained after the rst drying of the sample (dotted line
CSD in Fig. 12). Let eC and eS be the void ratios at points C and S,
respectively. The void ratio eS is obtained by following an unload-
ing path from point C (where the effective stress is p0i
20s0) to point S (where the effective stress is p0i s 0s0).
Therefore, the following relationship between eC and eS can be
written according to eq. [14]
p0i 20s0
eC
[18]
eS p0i s 0s0
The increment of plastic void ratio produced by loading from
point C to point E (which represents an increment on the effective
stress of p 0s0) is
[19] ep eC( ) p 0s0
p0i 20s0
In the same way, the plastic void ratio change produced by a net
stress increase ps (which is equal to the effective stress increase)
departing from point S is
[20] ep eS( ) ps
p0i s 0s0
By equalizing the last two equations the following result is
obtained:
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 220
Fig. 12. Collapse upon wetting phenomenon.
Suc
on
Ini
al LCYS
s0
Drying path
s
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Weng paths
A 450
Hardening by net stress p
increase dependent on de
p0i s 0s0 (1 ) Fig. 13. Volumetric behavior of Boom clay during wettingdrying
[21] ps
p0 20s0
(p 0s0)
For personal use only.
By adopting different values of s, the corresponding value of ps
can be obtained and the effective stresses dening the LCYS for
different values of suction can be plotted. If s = 0 for the new state
of stresses, then ps represents the hardening of the yield surface
at the effective stress axis (p0 in Fig. 12). The shape of the LCYS is
sketched in Fig. 12. Note that this shape depends on the SWRC of
the material through parameter .
When the soil wets after being loaded to point E, it follows a
different path than that followed during the drying stage due to
the hysteresis of the SWRC, although it intersects the effective
stress axis with the same slope of 45 when the soil fully saturates.
Notice that in such a case, the soil shows an initial elastic recovery
before it collapses (wetting path EG). This is in agreement with the
experimental results reported during the collapse of soils (see, for
example, Wang et al. 2002; Sun et al. 2007a). At the end of the
saturation process, the structure of the soil becomes that of a
saturated, slightly pre-consolidated material and thus the yield
surface is represented by a curved line departing from the pre-
consolidation stress (dotted line IJ). This pre-consolidation stress is
given by the addition of the net stress increment (p) plus the
hardening produced by the wettingdrying cycle. In contrast, the
net stress applied to the material only increases by the quantity p
and represents the nal position of the wetting cycle as shown in
Fig. 12. If, at this point, a new drying cycle is applied (stress path
HK), the soil initially shows an elastic recovery, but then yields
again because the stress path crosses the yield surface, as observed
in the same gure.
This behavior corresponds to the experimental results reported
by Romero et al. 2003 and shown in Fig. 13. These researchers
performed suction-controlled oedometric tests on samples of
Boom clay compacted at different densities and for different ver-
tical stresses. It was noted that the soil initially behaves elastically
during the rst wetting; the smaller the vertical net stress, the
larger the elastic response. This occurs because when the mean
net stress is large, the yield surface tilts further to the right and
the wetting path crosses it earlier (see Fig. 12). Following the elas-
tic behavior, the soil collapses. During the new drying cycle, the
soil initially shows an elastic volumetric reduction and then
yields. Finally, for the next wettingdrying cycles, the soil behaves
Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 50, 2013
LC YS aer drying
B C E I LC YS aer collapse
K New drying-weng
cycle
S G
Collapse
0
D F H 45
J Eec
ve stress
LC YS before collapse
Addi
onal hardening due
to drying-weng cycle
cycles (modied after Romero et al. (2003)).
elastically. It is noteworthy that some of these details of the volu-
metric behavior of unsaturated soils cannot be captured by a
model represented in the mean net stresssuction plane as the
hysteresis of the SWRC cannot be included.
Another aspect that requires reviewing is the critical state lines
at different suctions. Wheeler and Sivakumar (1995) performed a
series of triaxial tests on samples of unsaturated compacted
speswhite kaolin. The samples were prepared by static compac-
tion in a mold at a water content of 25%. The tests were conducted
in double-walled triaxial cells designed to accurately measure the
volume change of the samples during the test. In a previous re-
search, the strength of unsaturated samples at different suctions
was predicted using the concept of equivalent stress (Rojas 2008a).
These simulations showed that a unique failure surface can be
obtained when results are plotted on the axes of the equivalent
stress versus the deviator stress at the critical state. This equiva-
lent stress represents the effective stress in this paper. Figure 14
shows the void ratio at the critical state for samples tested at
different suctions in the axis of the logarithm of the effective
stress. The effective stress was obtained from the data previously
reported by Rojas (2008b). These results show that the critical void
ratio for different suctions aligns in parallel straight lines show-
ing the same slope as that of the virgin consolidation line (VCL).
This same result has been found by other researchers for different
soils (for example, see Benatti et al. 2010).
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 Rojas and Chvez
Fig. 14. Critical state for speswhite samples tested at different
suctions (experimental data from Wheeler and Sivakumar 1995).
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Therefore, these results show that the proposed volumetric
framework can explain the main aspects of the volumetric behav-
ior of unsaturated soils both by net stress and suction increase,
and that this behavior is controlled by the effective stress as de-
ned by eq. [12]. It has also been shown that the plots of the void
ratio during isotropic loading, as well as those corresponding to
the critical state of samples tested at different suctions, show a
family of parallel lines with a slope equal to the compression
index when represented in a semi-logarithmic plane. In addition,
in previous papers (see, for example, Rojas 2008b) it has been
shown that the effective stress as dened in this paper produces a
For personal use only.
single failure surface for soils tested at different suctions in wet-
ting or drying paths, including those in saturated conditions. Be-
cause the effective stress is dened as the stress controlling both
the strength and the volumetric behavior of materials, this would
mean that Bishop's equation indeed represents the effective stress
equation for unsaturated soils when parameter is dened as in
eq. [11]. In such a case, the hydromechanical coupling phenome-
non is implicitly included and the constitutive relationships for
unsaturated soils can be greatly simplied. Nevertheless, still
more experimental and numerical comparisons are required to
fully prove the proposed framework. These comparisons require
covering aspects such as wettingdrying cycles, the phenomenon
of collapse for different loading conditions, and complex net
stresssuction paths.
A drawback to this approach is that the proposed elastoplastic
framework should be coupled with a reliable solidporous model
able to simulate the distribution of water in the pores of the
material. In contrast, a phenomenon that has not been included
in the above simulations is the effect of the progressive change of
the PSD due to the volume change of the soil during shearing or
suction increase and its inuence on the SWRCs. Another aspect
that needs to be reviewed in the model is the inuence of the
adsorbed water layer for the case of clays.
Conclusions
The following conclusions can be drawn from this research:
1. The proposed framework for the volumetric deformation of
unsaturated soils is capable of reproducing the main aspects of
the volumetric behavior of unsaturated soils, such as the in-
creasing stiffness of the material with increasing suction
during isotropic loading, rapid volumetric stability with in-
creasing suction, collapse upon wetting, and switch from elas-
tic to elastoplastic volumetric behavior during wettingdrying
cycles. Finally, it represents a unifying framework for the vol-
umetric behavior of saturated and unsaturated soils.
2. According to the numerical and experimental comparisons, it
can be said that the solidporous model described in this pa-
per is adequate to determine the value of parameters f s, f u,
221
u
and Sw needed to quantify the volumetric response of unsatu-
rated soils.
3. The use of the proposed volumetric equation along with the
elastoplastic framework to simulate the volumetric behavior
during isotropic loading of soils at different suctions results in
a family of parallel lines showing a slope equal to the saturated
compression index. More numerical and experimental com-
parisons are required to fully prove this proposal.
4. Elastoplastic constitutive models based on the effective stress
principle intending to simulate the hydromechanical cou-
pling phenomenon need to be coupled with a reliable solid
porous model capable of simulating the hydraulic behavior of
the material. The solidporous model proposed in this paper
needs some improvements to (i) include the progressive
change of the PSD during loading that in turn affects the
SWRCs and (ii) review the inuence of the adsorbed water
layer for the case of clays.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank Silvia C. Stroet of the Engineer-
ing Faculty at Universidad Autnoma de Queretaro for editing the
English content in this document.
References
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Alonso, E.E., Rojas, E., and Pinyol, N.M. 2008. Unsaturated soil mechanics. In
Proceedings of the National Meeting of Soil Mechanics, Sociedad Mexicana
de Ingeniera Geotcnica. Special Volume, pp. 117206.
Benatti, J.C.B., Miguel, M.G., Rodriguez, R.A., and Vilar, O.M. 2010. Collapsibility
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