Soil-Water Characteristic

Curves for Unsaturated So

ils
Chapter 5
Section 5.1 and 5.2
Pages : 184 - 200

Section 5.1

Introduction
Background of Unsaturated Soil Mechanics
Early developments on the SWCC in Soil Physics
Early equipment for measuring SWCC
Early conceptual models of flow in unsaturated s
oils
The SWCC in early Soil Mechanics
Need for Unsaturated Soil property functions
Terminology and Definitions

Section 5.2

Volume Mass Constitutive relations

Designation of amount of water in Soil
Deformable and non deformable soils
Designation of stress state
Upper limit for soil suction
Volume mass constitutive relationship
s

Introduction
SWCC interaction between the mass (and/or
volume) of water in a soil and the energy state
of the water phase.
The SWCCs have an important role in the dete
rmination of unsaturated soil property functio
ns.
The procedures that have been proposed for u
nsaturated soil properties are approximate but
are generally satisfactory for analysing unsatur
ated soilmechanics problems.

Background of Unsaturated Soil Mecha

nics
Early Soil Mechanics (1930-1940) focused ma
inly on saturated soil with positive pore water
pressure.
Consideration of residual soil, expansive soils
and collapsible soils (problematic soils) does
nt fall under saturated soil mechanics principl
es.
It was clear that there was need for a theoretic
al framework that embraced all unsaturated so
il behaviour.

Early developments on the SWCC in So

il Physics
Use of Capillary Model - Briggs (1897) and Haines (192
7).
a mathematical relationship between the radius of curva
ture of the air-water meniscus and the pressure differenc
e between the air and water phases. (U a- Uw) was shown
to be balanced by the surface tension T acting at the wet
ting angle along the solid surface.
Terzaghi (1943) and Taylor (1948) used the capillary mo
del to explain the differences in physical behaviour betw
een saturated and unsaturated soils.
Micro mechanical model not useful in macro mechanic
al geotechnical engineering
s

Early equipment for measuring SWCC

Buckingham (1907) measured SWCCs for a variety of soils.
Richards (1928), Haines (1930) and Valle-Rodas (1944) also
measured SWCC
Long cylinders were

Early measurements of water content

versus matric suction on two soils
(after
Buckingham, 1907).

filled with soil

Water was allowed to
come to equilibrium
with
a
water
reservoir at the base
of the column.
The
gravitational
potential
energy
within each column
of soil was calculated
based
on
the
distance above the
free-water surface in
the reservoir and was
referred to as the

Valle-Rodas (1944)
Valle-Rodas (1944) performed open-tub
e and capillarimeter tests on uniform san
ds.
Various sand particle size ranges were s
eparated using sieves. Each material with
a limited range of grain sizes was placed
in the open tube and the capillarimeter.
The bottom end of the sand in the open t
ube was immersed in water.
Experimental results showed a gradual c
hange in the water content in the sand w
ith distance above the water reservoir
Distribution of capillary water
in sands of varying gradation
(after Valle-Rodas, 1944).

Early conceptual models of flow in uns

aturated soils
Childs (1940) - ther
e was a relationship
between the SWCC
and the coefficient o
f permeability for an
unsaturated soil.
Capillary model + S
WCC led to the defi
nition of an effective
pore-size diameter.

The SWCC in early Soil Mechanics

The First International Conference on Soil M
echanics and Foundation Engineering (193
6)
Van Mourik Broekman and Buisman (1936) - not
ed that negative pore-water pressures played a
n important role in the stability of slopes.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the SWCC became

the basis for the estimation of nonlinear uns
aturated soil property functions for all types
of geotechnical engineering problems.

Need for Unsaturated Soil property fun

ctions
Measurement of unsaturated soil property fun
ctions are unacceptably costly.
SWCCs have emerged as a practical and suffic
iently accurate tool for the estimation of unsat
urated soil property functions for most geotec
hnical engineering problems.
The SWCC has become viewed as the key to
the implementation of unsaturated soil mecha
nics in engineering practice (D.G. Fredlund, 2
002a).

Terminology and Definitions

SWCC,
SuctionWater content relationshi
p,
Retention curves,
Moisture retention curves,
Soil moisture retention curves, and
Water retention curves (WRCs).

 The key transition points on the SWCC are the air-entry

value and the residual value for suction and water content.
These transition points are defined on the degree of
saturation versus soil suction plot and subdivide the SWCC
into the boundary effect zone, the transition zone, and
the residual zone.

Typical desorption SWCC showing distinct zones of

desaturation.

Volume-Mass Constitutive relations

Cla
y

San
d

The SWCC constitutes th

e primary soil informatio
n required for the analysi
s of seepage, shear stren
gth, volume change, air fl
ow, and heat flow proble
ms involving unsaturated
soils
The SWCC is broadly def
ined as the relationship
between the amount of
water in a soil and soil su
ction.

Volume-mass constitutive surfaces for highly plastic

clay and Sand soil (a) Void ratio constitutive surface, (b)
gravimetric water content constitutive surface, and (c)
degree-of-saturation constitutive surface.

Designation of amount of water in Soil

Variables used to define the
amount of water in the soil a
re
gravimetric water content w,
volumetric water content ,
degree of saturation S,
volume of water, Vw, referen
ced to the original volume o
f the specimen, V0 (i.e., Vw/V
0).
Dimensionless gravimetric w
ater content dg

where:
w = gravimetric water
content, Mw = mass of water,
and Ms = mass of soil solids.
where:
= volumetric water content,
Vw = volume of water, Vv =
volume of voids, and Vs =
volume of solids.
where:
S = degree of saturation.
where:
w = any gravimetric water
content and
Ws = gravimetric water
content at saturation

Dimensionless gravimetric water conte

nt
Dimensionless gravimetric water content can be writte
n in terms of the individual measured mass values as f
ollows:
;==
Mw0 = mass of water in the saturated soil at the start of
the test,
Ms = mass of the soil solids, and
Mw = mass of water at any point under consideration.
Vw0 = volume of water in the saturated soil at the start
of the test.

Normalized gravimetric water content ng a

nd Normalized volumetric water content n
v

ng
Wr = residual gravi
metric water conte
nt
nv
= residual volumetr
ic water content

Data from a sandy soil plotted in terms of

dimensionless water content and normalized
water content.

Deformable and non deformable soils

Classification of SWCCs based on amount of volume change that

occurs as soil
suction is increased.

The terms deformable and nondeformable are being used

mainly with respect to the material response to changes in soil
suction. Sands are essentially nondeformable materials because
of their low compressibility. Sands are essentially nondeformable
even when prepared as slurry. Clays can be either deformable or
essentially nondeformable depending upon the initial water
content, stress history, and nature of the

Shrinkage curves
corresponding to various initial
conditions
of soil specimen.
Effect of stress history and
method of specimen
preparation on measured
SWCC.

Designation of stress state

Soil suction versus gravimetric water content for initially

slurry Regina clay (from Fredlund, 1964).

Components of soil suction and total suction for Regina

clay (from Fredlund,
2002a).

Degree of saturation versus soil suction for a highly

plastic clay prepared as a
slurry (from Fredlund, 1964).

Upper limit for soil suction

Soil suction as a
function of relative
humidity in the
ambient or internal
pore-air.

Gibbs free-energy state equation

ln(uv/uv0)

where:
= total suction, kPa, R = universal gas constant [8.31432 J/(mol K)],
TK = absolute temperature, K (TK = 273.16 + T ,
where T = temperature, C),
Vw0 = specific volume of water, m3/kg, v = molecular mass of water vapor (18.
016 kg/kmol), uv = partial pressure of water, kPa,

Uv0 = saturation pressure of water vapor over a flat surface of pure water.

Theoretical soil suctions corresponding to

relative
humidities in extremely high total-suction
range.

Theoretical soil suctions corresponding to

relative
humidities in extremely high total-suction

Volume Mass constitutive relationshi

ps

e = eo Cc log (p uw/po uw )
where:
eo = initial or reference void ratio at po uw,
uw = pore-water pressure,
po = initial or reference total stress (i.e., vertical stre
ss for
K0 loading),
p = total stress state under consideration, and
Cc = compressive index (i.e., slope of the virgin com
pression branch).

Reference compression curves for saturated soil (from

Fredlund, 2006): (a) natural logarithm scale; (b) base-10
logarithm scale.

Revisions
Total Suction, Matric Suction and Osmotic
Suction

Refer Section 3.6 Role of osmotic suction pp:

105-107

Effective pore size diameter

The effective diameter of a pore is defined as th
e maximum diameter of a spherical particle whi
ch can pass through the pore in the membrane

Total Suction
, Osmotic suction and matric
suction
Krahn and Fredlund
(1972)

Slope of moisture
characteristics, d/d
C() = d/d
C() is known as specific
water capacity or differential
water capacity.

Reference : Daniel Hillel (1998). Environmental Soil Physics. Academic

Press. Elsevier. London