• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.31 no.1D
• /
• pp.83-90
• /
• 2011

A need still exists that the unsaturated condition is to be considered when evaluating the infiltration and drainage capacity for compacted geomaterials in road foundation or embankments. For this reason, numerical analysis were used to analyze the time-dependent unsaturated infiltration and drainage condition depending on various geomaterial types. Therefore, laboratory data from the soil-water characteristic curve tests on geomaterials were adopted from previous studies. In addition, the unsaturated permeability was estimated using SWCC. Then the infiltration and drainage performance of unsaturated compacted soils were evaluated under various conditions based on the proposed method. The results demonstrated that the effect of initial suction and SWCC path on each material could be substantial and the proper application on analysis is very important to enhance the prediction on each capacity.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.31 no.4D
• /
• pp.571-576
• /
• 2011

In general, conventional road pavements are designed under the assumption that the shear strength of geomaterials are under saturated state. In reality, however, most of the pavement geomaterials exists under the unsaturated state. To deal with this gap between saturated and unsaturated conditions, in this paper, unsaturated shear strength was estimated using the results from the triaxial compression test and soil-water characteristics curves. Then, yield loads were assessed using 2-Dimensional finite element method with the selected nonlinear elastic model and the Mohr-Coulomb yield criteria. In addition, various unsaturated condition and surface layer effects on the yield load of granular materials were identified. Therefore, the results demonstrated would provide a possibility to estimate bearing capacity of paved or unpaved roads using unsaturated soil mechanics.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.75-82
• /
• 2003

This paper presents the results of a study that was performed to evaluate fronds of shear strength parameters in stabilization of unbound soil-aggregate systems based on the theory of unsaturated soil mechanics. Two important shear strength parameters, effective cohesion and effective angle of internal friction were estimated by the proposed approach using the results from suction measurements and unconfined compressive strength test. In addition, the effect of different addition rates of stabilizing agent was compared. Due to the stabilization process, an increase in suction potential on engineering properties of geomaterials was observed by using dielectric constant measurements. In conclusion, the results from this study show that the proposed approach can be simply used for predicting shear strength parameters of the stabilized geomaterials.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.31 no.1D
• /
• pp.73-82
• /
• 2011

Generally, an unsaturated condition was not considered to predict the long-term strength and drainage behaviors on compacted road foundations. However, it is logical way to consider the unsaturated condition and hysteresis behavior on road foundations like subbase and subgrade. For more quantitative analysis, rational experimental approach requires proper laboratory tool and material model, and hydraulic properties of pavement geomaterials under unsaturated conditions. In this study, therefore, laboratory data from the soil-water characteristic curve tests were used to predict suction and unsaturated permeability on pavement foundations and the results were analyzed based on the nonlinear fitting model considered. In addition to that, the unsaturated moisture capacity of each material is discussed.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.459-469
• /
• 2019

It is important to estimate the shear strength of shallow compacted soils as a construction material. A series of constant water content triaxial compression (CWCC) tests under low confining state in this study were performed on compacted geomaterials. For establishing a relationship of the shear strengths between saturated and unsaturated states on compacted geomaterials, the suction stresses were derived by two methods: the conventional suction-measured method and the Suction stress-SWRC Method (SSM). Considering the suction stress as an equivalent confining stress component in the (${\sigma}_{net}$, ${\tau}$) plane, it was found that the peak deviator stress states agree well with the failure line of the saturated state from the triaxial compression test when the SSM is applied to obtain the suction stress. On the other hand, the cavitation phenomenon on the measurement of suction affected the results of the conventional suction-measured method. These results mean that the SSM is distinctly favorable for obtaining the suction value in the CWCC test because the SSM is not restricted by the cavitation phenomenon. It is expected that the application of the SSM would reduce the time required, and the projected cost with the additional equipment such as a pore water measuring device in the CWCC test.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2009.03a
• /
• pp.966-972
• /
• 2009

Soil-aggregate system in pavement foundations exist in unsaturated conditions. However, change in water content on foundation layers due to joint and structural cracks during rainfall may cause problems like layer deformations or partial settlements. Therefore, a need exist to evaluate the infiltration and drainage capacity of soil-aggregate foundation system under both saturated and unsaturated conditions. To do that, a laboratory soil-water characteristic curve and permeability under unsaturated conditions are assessed to establish hydraulic properties of geomaterials and limited numerical analysis are performed respectively. As a result, it was found that suction profiles and drainage process was greatly influenced by the initial suction of soil-aggregate system at the time of infiltration, soil water characteristics curves, and hysteresis effects.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2007.09a
• /
• pp.542-557
• /
• 2007

Contamination of subsurface results in degradation of geomaterials (i.e., soils and rock mass), in the long run. This is mainly due to the presence of chemical and/or radiological materials in undesirable concentrations and at elevated temperatures. However, as contaminant-geomaterial interaction is an extremely slow and complex process, which primarily depends on their physical, chemical and mineralogical properties, it is quite difficult to study this interaction under laboratory or in situ conditions. In such a situation, accelerated physical modeling, using a geotechnical centrifuge, and finite element/difference based numerical modeling techniques are found to be quite useful. This paper presents details of various modeling techniques developed by the researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India, for studying heat migration, flow and interaction (fate) of reactive and non-reactive contaminants in the geoenvironment, under saturated and unsaturated conditions. In addition, paper presents details of the technique that can be employed for determining susceptibility of a material to undergo physico-chemico-mineralogical alterations due to its interaction with contaminants.