Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Application of Hysteretic Trends in the Preconsolidation Stress of Unsaturated Soils

  • Original paper
  • Published:
Geotechnical and Geological Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper involves an evaluation of a relationship describing the evolution in yield stress of unsaturated soils during hydraulic hysteresis, and an application of this relationship in an elasto-plastic framework to predict the compression curves of unsaturated soils under drained (free outflow of air and water with constant suction) or undrained (constant water content with no outflow of water and varying suction) conditions. The yield stress was quantified as the apparent mean effective preconsolidation stress obtained from compression tests reported in the literature on specimens that had experienced different hydraulic paths. It was observed that the preconsolidation stress does not follow a hysteretic path when plotted as a function of matric suction, but does when plotted as a function of the degree of saturation. Accordingly, an existing logarithmic relationship between the preconsolidation stress and matric suction normalized by the air entry suction was found to match the experimental preconsolidation stress results. This same relationship was also able to satisfactorily predict the trends in preconsolidation stress with degree of saturation by substituting the hysteretic soil–water retention curve (SWRC) into the place of the matric suction. The relationship between preconsolidation stress and suction was combined with an elasto-plastic framework to predict the compression curves of soils during drained compression, while the wetting-path relationship between preconsolidation stress and degree of saturation was combined with the framework to predict the compression curves of soils during undrained (constant water content) compression. A good match was obtained with experimental data from the literature, indicating the relevance of considering the hysteretic SWRC and preconsolidation relationships when simulating the behavior of unsaturated soils following different hydro-mechanical paths.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alonso EE, Gens A, Josa A (1990) A constitutive model for partially saturated soils. Géotechnique 40(3):405–430

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alsherif NA, McCartney JS (2016) Yielding of silt at high temperature and suction magnitudes. Geotech Geol Eng 34:501–514

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellia Z, Ghembaza MS, Belal T (2015) A thermo-hydro-mechanical model of unsaturated soils based on bounding surface plasticity. Comput Geotech 69:58–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop AW, Blight GE (1963) Some aspects of effective stress in saturated and unsaturated soils. Géotechnique 13(3):177–197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolzon G, Schrefler BA (1995) State surfaces of partially saturated soils: an effective pressure approach. Appl Mech Rev 48(10):643–649

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coccia CJR (2016). Mechanisms of thermal volume change in unsaturated silt. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Colorado, Boulder

  • Cui YJ, Delage P, Sultan N (1995) An elastoplastic model for compacted soils. In: Alonzo EE, Delage P (eds) Proceedings of first international conference on unsaturated soils, Paris, France, vol 2. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp 703–709

  • Della Vecchia G, Jommi C, Romero E (2013) A fully coupled elastic-plastic hydro-mechanical model for compacted soils accounting for clay activity. Int J Numer Anal Methods Geomech 37(5):503–535

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • François B, Laloui L (2008) ACMEG-TS: a constitutive model for unsaturated soils under non-isothermal conditions. Int J Numer Anal Methods Geomech 32(16):1955–1988

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallipoli D, Wheeler SJ, Karstunen M (2003) Modelling the variation of degree of saturation in a deformable unsaturated soil. Géotechnique 53(1):105–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geiser F, Laloui L, Vulliet L (2006) Elasto-plasticity of unsaturated soils: laboratory test results on a remoulded silt. Soils Found 46(5):545–556

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jotisankasa A (2005) Collapse behaviour of a compacted silty clay. Ph.D. thesis, Imperial College London, London, UK

  • Jotisankasa A, Ridley A, Coop A (2007) Collapse behavior of a compacted silty clay in the suction-monitored oedometer apparatus. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 133(7):867–877

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khalili N, Khabbaz MH (1998) A unique relationship for χ for the determination of shear strength of unsaturated soils. Géotechnique 48(5):681–688

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khalili N, Zargarbashi S (2010) Influence of hydraulic hysteresis on effective stress in unsaturated soils. Géotechnique 60(9):729–734

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khalili N, Geiser F, Blight GE (2004) Effective stress in unsaturated soils, a review with new evidence. Int J Geomech 4(2):115–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khalili N, Habte MA, Zargarbashi S (2008) A fully coupled flow deformation model for cyclic analysis of unsaturated soils including hydraulic and mechanical hysteresis. Comput Geotech 35:872–889

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khosravi A, McCartney JS (2012) Impact of hydraulic hysteresis on the small-strain shear modulus of unsaturated soils. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 138(11):1326–1333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khosravi A, Sajjad S, Dadashi A, McCartney JS (2016) Evaluation of the impact of drainage-induced hardening on the small strain shear modulus of unsaturated soils. Int J Geomech. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0000614

    Google Scholar 

  • Kool JB, Parker JC (1987) Development and evaluation of closed-form expressions for hysteretic soil hydraulic properties. Water Resour Res 23(1):105–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lloret A, Villar MV, Sanchez M, Gens A, Pintado X, Alonso EE (2003) Mechanical behaviour of heavily compacted bentonite under high suction changes. Géotechnique 53(1):27–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loret B, Khalili N (2002) An effective stress elastic-plastic model for unsaturated porous media. Mech Mater 34(2):97–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu N, Likos WJ (2006) Suction stress characteristic curve for unsaturated soil. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 132(2):131–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu N, Godt J, Wu D (2010) A closed-form equation for effective stress in unsaturated soil. Water Resour Res 46:1–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Mun W, McCartney JS (2015) Compression mechanisms of unsaturated clay under high stress levels. Can Geotech J 52(12):2099–2112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mun W, McCartney JS (2016) Constitutive model for the drained compression of unsaturated clay to high stresses. ASCE J Geotech Geoenviron Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001662

  • Romero E, Jommi C (2008) An insight into the role of hydraulic history on the volume changes of anisotropic clayey soils. Water Resour Res 44:W12412:1–W12412:16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salager S, François B, El Youssoufi MS, Laloui L, Saix C (2008) Experimental investigations of temperature and suction effects on compressibility and pre-consolidation pressure of a sandy silt. Soils Found 48(4):453–466

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sheng D, Sloan S, Gens A (2004) A constitutive model for unsaturated soils: thermomechanical and computational aspects. Comput Mech 33:453–465

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sivakumar V (1993) A critical state framework for unsaturated soils. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Sheffield

  • Sun DA, Sheng Dl, Xiang L, Sloan SW (2008) Elastoplastic prediction of hydro-mechanical behaviour of unsaturated soils under undrained conditions. Comput Geotech 35:845–852

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tamagnini R (2004) An extended Cam-clay model for unsaturated soils with hydraulic hysteresis. Géotechnique 54(3):223–228

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tourchi S, Hamidi A (2015) Thermo-mechanical constitutive modeling of unsaturated clays based on the critical state concepts. J Rock Mech Geotech Eng 7(2):193–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uchaipichat A (2010) Hydraulic hysteresis effect on compressibility of unsaturated soils. ARPN J Eng Appl Sci 5(10):92–97

    Google Scholar 

  • Uchaipichat A, Khalili N (2009) Experimental investigation of thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of an unsaturated silt. Géotechnique 59(4):339–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Genuchten MT (1980) A closed form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 44(5):892–898

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler SJ, Sivakumar V (1995) An elasto-plastic critical state framework for unsaturated soils. Géotechnique 45(1):35–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler SJ, Gallipoli D, Karstunen M (2002) Comments on the use of Barcelona Basic Model for unsaturated soils. Int J Numer Anal Meth Geomech 26:1561–1571

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler SJ, Sharma RJ, Buisson MSR (2003) Coupling of hydraulic hysteresis and stress-strain behaviour in unsaturated soils. Géotechnique 53(1):41–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wood DM (1990) Soil behaviour and critical state soil mechanics. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou C, Ng CWW (2014) A new and simple stress-dependent water retention model for unsaturated soil. Comput Geotech 62:216–222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou A-N, Sheng D, Sloan SW, Gens A (2012a) Interpretation of unsaturated soil behaviour in the stress—saturation space, I: volume change and water retention behavior. Comput Geotech 43:178–187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou A-N, Sheng D, Sloan SW, Gens A (2012b) Interpretation of unsaturated soil behaviour in the stress—saturation space, II: constitutive relationships and validations. Comput Geotech 43:111–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the support from National Science Foundation grant CMMI-1054190. The views in this paper are those of the authors alone.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hushmand and Associates, Inc., 250 Goddard, Irvine, CA, 92618, USA

    W. Mun

  2. Exponent Failure Analysis Associates, 1331 17th St, Suite 515, Denver, CO, 80202, USA

    C. J. R. Coccia

  3. Department of Structural Engineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0085, USA

    J. S. McCartney

Authors
  1. W. Mun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. C. J. R. Coccia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. J. S. McCartney
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. S. McCartney.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mun, W., Coccia, C.J.R. & McCartney, J.S. Application of Hysteretic Trends in the Preconsolidation Stress of Unsaturated Soils. Geotech Geol Eng 36, 193–207 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-017-0316-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-017-0316-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation