Actions

Download Analytics Citations

Export to: EndNote  |  Zotero  |  Mendeley

Collections

This file is not currently in any collections.

A simple method to determine soil-water retention curves of compacted active clays [dataset] Open Access

Determining the Soil Water Retention Curve (SWRC) of an active clay constitutes a challenge due to the significant, and sometimes irreversible, volume changes that occur during wetting and drying cycles. A novel yet simple method of experimentally determining the evolution of the SWRCs with moisture cycles is presented based on the results of a rigorous experimental study. Its purpose is to support the modelling of water flux in earthworks exposed to weather cycles that cause deterioration. Firstly, three SWRC branches (the primary drying, a scanning drying, and a scanning wetting branch) are measured and used to fit the proposed generic SWRC semi-empirical model in terms of water ratio, that, in the adsorptive region, is independent of the compaction conditions (void ratio and water content at compaction). Soil Shrink-Swell Curves (SSSCs) in terms of water ratio versus void ratio, that are easy to measure, can be determined for different compaction conditions over several drying and wetting cycles. Finally, the SSSCs are combined with the generic SWRC model to determine the evolution of the SWRCs with moisture cycles for the compaction conditions of interest. This method is demonstrated for two London clays of high and very high plasticity. Samples were compacted in five different conditions, varying in gravimetric water content and dry density, and were cycled six times between 1 and 80 MPa of total suction. The generic SWRC model was fitted to the experimental data. The model was able to estimate the SWRC in terms of degree of saturation over the six drying-wetting cycles without propagation of error. The significance of the research is that SWRC can now be determined over a range of wetting and drying cycles quickly and simply and enable modelling of deterioration of clays fills due to the action of weather to be accurate.

Descriptions

Resource type

Dataset

Contributors

Creator: Dias, Ana Sofia ¹
Data collector: Dias, Ana Sofia ¹
Data curator: Dias, Ana Sofia ¹
Contact person: Toll, David ¹
Editor: Toll, David ¹
Contact person: Hughes, Paul ¹
Contact person: Glendinning, Stephanie ²

¹ Durham University, UK
² Newcastle University, UK

Funder

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Research methods

Other description

Keyword

Soil-water retention curve
Shrink-swell behaviour
Active clay
Compacted soil
Moisture cycles

Subject

Location

Language

Cited in

Identifier

ark:/32150/r2jm214p22c
doi:10.15128/r2jm214p22c

Rights

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY)

Publisher

Durham University

Date Created

File Details

Depositor

A.S. Dias

Date Uploaded

18 October 2023, 09:10:57

Date Modified

19 October 2023, 12:10:49

Audit Status

Audits have not yet been run on this file.

Characterization

File format: zip (ZIP Format)

Mime type: application/zip

File size: 2189877

Last modified: 2023:10:18 10:03:19+01:00

Filename: repository data paper1.zip

Original checksum: 25aaf65c58c77b2c90e036d517b59545