Soil water retention curves（SWRCs） provide an important means of describing the response of unsaturated soils during drying / wetting processes in terms of variations of degree of saturation, water content or void r...Soil water retention curves（SWRCs） provide an important means of describing the response of unsaturated soils during drying / wetting processes in terms of variations of degree of saturation, water content or void ratio with suction. A key consideration in generating these curves is how to measure the suction. Frequently the filter paper technique is adopted, especially when high suctions are developed, e.g. with plastic clays. As each measurement takes at least a week with this technique, it can take months or years to generate a full SWRC in drying and wetting. Developments in laboratory tensiometers now allow matrix suctions up to about 1.5 MPa to be measured. With such a device it is possible to develop SWRCs for granular soils such as silts and clays in hours or days by continuous measurement. This paper describes an experimental set-up that was developed to measure changes in volume, water content and matrix suction during drying of three granular soils. Limitations of the apparatus and usefulness of the curves are discussed.展开更多
Matric suction is an important state variable required for the assessment of unsaturated soil properties.Tensiometers are commonly used for direct matric suction measurement but have a limited measuring range up to 90...Matric suction is an important state variable required for the assessment of unsaturated soil properties.Tensiometers are commonly used for direct matric suction measurement but have a limited measuring range up to 90 kPa due to the cavitation problem.Osmotic tensiometer(OT)can improve the measuring range of tensiometers by increasing the osmotic pressure of water to avoid the cavitation.However,the long-term water pressure decay that appeared in OTs caused a gradual decrease in their measuring range.In this study,crosslinked poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid)potassium salt(PAM-co-PAAK)was used for the preparation of OTs(five in total)to explore the mechanism of water pressure decay of OTs.The maximum water pressure in the OT versus the volume fraction of polymer filled in the OT was described based on the Flory-Huggins polymer theories and validated using WP4C dewpoint hygrometer.The long-term pressure decay of OT-1,OT-2,and OT-3 was observed for 130 d and constant pressures were found for OT-1 and OT-2,indicating that the pressure decay of OT was mainly caused by the stress relaxation of the polymer hydrogels,and standard linear solid(SLS)rheological model was appropriate to fit the decay data.For OT-1,OT-2 and OT-3,the theoretical osmotic pressure that was calculated based on the mass of retrieved polymer from OTs after 130-d pressure observation was higher than the actual osmotic pressure as observed,indicating that polymer leakage cannot explain the pressure decay of the OT.The ultravioletevisible(UVevisible)spectrophotometry examined the change in polymer concentrations in the water containers of OT-4 and OT-5 and demonstrated that there was no increase in polymer leakage during the period of pressure decay of OT-4 and OT-5.As a result,the pressure decay of OT was not caused by polymer leakage.The results of this research suggested that the viscoelastic properties of polymers should be taken into consideration in further OT development.展开更多
Rock joints infilled with sediments can strongly influence the strength of rock mass. As infilled joints often exist under unsaturated condition, this study investigated the influence of matric suction of infill on th...Rock joints infilled with sediments can strongly influence the strength of rock mass. As infilled joints often exist under unsaturated condition, this study investigated the influence of matric suction of infill on the overall joint shear strength. A novel technique that allows direct measurement of matric suction of infill using high capacity tensiometers(HCTs) during direct shear of infilled joints under constant normal stiffness(CNS) is described. The CNS apparatus was modified to accommodate the HCT and the procedure is explained in detail. Joint specimens were simulated by gypsum plaster using threedimensional(3D) printed surface moulds, and filled with kaolin and sand mixture prepared at different water contents. Shear behaviours of both planar infilled joints and rough joints having joint roughness coefficients(JRCs) of 8-10 and 18-20 with the ratios of infill thickness to asperity height(t/a)equal to 0.5 were investigated. Matric suction shows predominantly unimodal behaviour during shearing of both planar and rough joints, which is closely associated with the variation of unloading rate and volumetric changes of the infill material. As expected, two-peak behaviour was observed for the rough joints and both peaks increased with the increase of infill matric suction. The results suggest that the contribution of matric suction of infill on the joint peak normalised shear stress is relatively independent of the joint roughness.展开更多
文摘Soil water retention curves（SWRCs） provide an important means of describing the response of unsaturated soils during drying / wetting processes in terms of variations of degree of saturation, water content or void ratio with suction. A key consideration in generating these curves is how to measure the suction. Frequently the filter paper technique is adopted, especially when high suctions are developed, e.g. with plastic clays. As each measurement takes at least a week with this technique, it can take months or years to generate a full SWRC in drying and wetting. Developments in laboratory tensiometers now allow matrix suctions up to about 1.5 MPa to be measured. With such a device it is possible to develop SWRCs for granular soils such as silts and clays in hours or days by continuous measurement. This paper describes an experimental set-up that was developed to measure changes in volume, water content and matrix suction during drying of three granular soils. Limitations of the apparatus and usefulness of the curves are discussed.
文摘Matric suction is an important state variable required for the assessment of unsaturated soil properties.Tensiometers are commonly used for direct matric suction measurement but have a limited measuring range up to 90 kPa due to the cavitation problem.Osmotic tensiometer(OT)can improve the measuring range of tensiometers by increasing the osmotic pressure of water to avoid the cavitation.However,the long-term water pressure decay that appeared in OTs caused a gradual decrease in their measuring range.In this study,crosslinked poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid)potassium salt(PAM-co-PAAK)was used for the preparation of OTs(five in total)to explore the mechanism of water pressure decay of OTs.The maximum water pressure in the OT versus the volume fraction of polymer filled in the OT was described based on the Flory-Huggins polymer theories and validated using WP4C dewpoint hygrometer.The long-term pressure decay of OT-1,OT-2,and OT-3 was observed for 130 d and constant pressures were found for OT-1 and OT-2,indicating that the pressure decay of OT was mainly caused by the stress relaxation of the polymer hydrogels,and standard linear solid(SLS)rheological model was appropriate to fit the decay data.For OT-1,OT-2 and OT-3,the theoretical osmotic pressure that was calculated based on the mass of retrieved polymer from OTs after 130-d pressure observation was higher than the actual osmotic pressure as observed,indicating that polymer leakage cannot explain the pressure decay of the OT.The ultravioletevisible(UVevisible)spectrophotometry examined the change in polymer concentrations in the water containers of OT-4 and OT-5 and demonstrated that there was no increase in polymer leakage during the period of pressure decay of OT-4 and OT-5.As a result,the pressure decay of OT was not caused by polymer leakage.The results of this research suggested that the viscoelastic properties of polymers should be taken into consideration in further OT development.
基金The financial support provided by the China Scholarship Council (Grant No. 201406420027)
文摘Rock joints infilled with sediments can strongly influence the strength of rock mass. As infilled joints often exist under unsaturated condition, this study investigated the influence of matric suction of infill on the overall joint shear strength. A novel technique that allows direct measurement of matric suction of infill using high capacity tensiometers(HCTs) during direct shear of infilled joints under constant normal stiffness(CNS) is described. The CNS apparatus was modified to accommodate the HCT and the procedure is explained in detail. Joint specimens were simulated by gypsum plaster using threedimensional(3D) printed surface moulds, and filled with kaolin and sand mixture prepared at different water contents. Shear behaviours of both planar infilled joints and rough joints having joint roughness coefficients(JRCs) of 8-10 and 18-20 with the ratios of infill thickness to asperity height(t/a)equal to 0.5 were investigated. Matric suction shows predominantly unimodal behaviour during shearing of both planar and rough joints, which is closely associated with the variation of unloading rate and volumetric changes of the infill material. As expected, two-peak behaviour was observed for the rough joints and both peaks increased with the increase of infill matric suction. The results suggest that the contribution of matric suction of infill on the joint peak normalised shear stress is relatively independent of the joint roughness.
