A new procedure for the determination of soil-water retention curves by continuous drying using high-suction tensiometers

Lourenco, Sergio, Gallipoli, Domenico, Toll, David, Augarde, Charles and Evans, Fred 2011. A new procedure for the determination of soil-water retention curves by continuous drying using high-suction tensiometers. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 48 (2) , pp. 327-335. 10.1139/T10-062

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Abstract

Soil-water retention curves (SWRCs) can be determined using high-suction tensiometers (HSTs) following two different procedures that involve either continuous or discrete measurement of suction. In the former case, suction measurements are taken while the sample is permanently exposed to the atmosphere and the soil is continuously drying. In the latter case, the drying or wetting process is halted at different stages to ensure equalization within the sample before measuring suction. Continuous drying has the advantage of being faster; however, it has the disadvantage that the accuracy of mass measurements (necessary for the determination of water content) is affected by the weight and stiffness of the cable connecting the HST to the logger. To overcome this problem, an alternative continuous drying procedure is presented in this paper in which two separate but nominally identical samples are used to obtain a single SWRC; one sample is used for the mass measurements, while a second sample is used for suction measurements. It is demonstrated that the new continuous drying procedure gives SWRCs that are similar to those obtained by discrete drying.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Earth and Environmental Sciences
Subjects:	T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	unsaturated soils, high-suction tensiometers, soil-water retention curve, laboratory testing
Publisher:	NRC Research Press
ISSN:	0008-3674
Last Modified:	19 Mar 2016 22:16
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/10350

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