Evolution law of pore-size distribution in soil-water retention test

Authors

Geng NIU, State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis of Industrial Equipment, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning 116085, China
Long-tan SHAO, State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis of Industrial Equipment, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning 116085, China
De-an SUN, Shandong Province Administration of Haihe River Basin, Jinan, Shandong 250100, China
Chang-fu WEI, Shandong Province Administration of Haihe River Basin, Jinan, Shandong 250100, China
Xiao-xia GUO, State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis of Industrial Equipment, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning 116085, China
Hua XU

Abstract

This paper is to measure the soil-water retention curves (SWRC) of undisturbed and compacted soil specimens and compare the differences in measured data between these two soils. The mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) tests are conducted to explore the difference in the pore size distributions (PSD) between the undisturbed and compacted specimens and investigate the evolution law of PSD during drying. By considering shrinkage during drying, the basic parameters of SWRC can be determined based on the PSD. The results show that the undisturbed specimens in the wide suction range exhibit a unimodal PSD. The saturated compacted-specimen exhibits a unimodal PSD, but becomes the bimodal structure obviously during further drying. The SWRC of undisturbed specimens has a typical shape of “S”, but the compacted specimens have a “horizontal stage” in the transition zone. The pore diameters governing the air entry value and residual value can be determined by the PSD of MIP tests, and then corresponding suctions can be calculated, which are consistent with the physical meaning.

Recommended Citation

NIU, Geng; SHAO, Long-tan; SUN, De-an; WEI, Chang-fu; GUO, Xiao-xia; and XU, Hua (2020) "Evolution law of pore-size distribution in soil-water retention test," Rock and Soil Mechanics: Vol. 41: Iss. 4, Article 3.
DOI: 10.16285/j.rsm.2019.5785
Available at: https://rocksoilmech.researchcommons.org/journal/vol41/iss4/3